Christmas at Grimmauld Place
by animalwriter
Summary: Co-written with CommanderValeria. NOT SLASH. SS/OC and SB/OC. A short story in the same universe as "The Serpent's Kiss" and "Don't Leave Me". Lucy and Sirius have Dinah and Severus over to Grimmauld Place for Christmas.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello readers! This fanfiction is written in equal parts by both myself (animalwriter, author of "The Serpent's Kiss") and CommanderValeria (author of "Don't Leave Me"). So, although I am posting it through my profile, when reading and reviewing keep in mind that it is also CommanderValeria's work, so please leave comments for both of us!

This story it is set in the same universe as "The Serpent's Kiss" and "Don't Leave Me", which tell the tales of two new Hogwarts Professors, Dinah Samson and Lucy Ketteridge, who find themselves romantically involved with Severus Snape and Sirius Black, respectively. The two become friends, but the friendship is marred with difficulty along the way because, as we all know, their significant others do NOT get along with each other.

What you are about to read chronicles the attempt of the two couples to spend a few days during the holiday together, with what we hope are rather interesting results :). Please check out both of the main stories if you are curious about the history of the characters and their back stories, because we won't be going into them in too much detail here. There are a few important relationship developments for both couples in this story, so if you are reading the main ones you should also definitely check this one out.

Finally, disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter!

Hope you enjoy our holiday gift to you! :)

* * *

CHRISTMAS AT GRIMMAULD PLACE

by

animalwriter and CommanderValeria

* * *

Dinah gazed up at the dark frame of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. It looked rather creepy at night, and that didn't help the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. Though she knew it wasn't exactly polite, she found that she was _not _looking forward to this.

"I still can't believe Lucy would invite _both _of us here for the holiday," she shot Severus a quick glance, but his expression was stoic, as usual. She shook her head and turned back, looking up at the looming building before her, "Imagine! You and Sirius!"

"I expect that dog won't be pleased when she tells him," Severus finally spoke.

Dinah shook her head again and turned to face him, "I still don't understand why you agreed to come."

"It seemed like it was important to you," he frowned. "But you don't seem very excited about it now."

"I'm just not sure if we're ready for this."

"Well, we can't leave now," he muttered, "Ring the bell and let's get this over with."

Dinah walked up the steps, her stomach sinking further every time her feet hit the cold stone. She did want to spend time with Lucy, but the two men were _not _going to like this. She held her hand above the knocker, but it seemed frozen in place. It refused to reach down and grab the handle. She winced when she saw Severus frowning at her out of the corner of her eye; "Sorry. I can't seem to move."

He sighed, coming forward and gesturing for her to get out of the way.

He knocked.

* * *

Lucy paced back and forth across the room where the Black family tree was displayed. She had to tell him soon, as in now. It wouldn't be right to leave them out on the front porch while she explained what she had done and they were due to arrive in an hour or so.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Sirius asked from the couch.

"Yes, quite," she sighed, "Actually no. I need to tell you something, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to like it."

Sirius sat up straighter. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"What? No! And so what if I was? It'd be your doing."

"I wouldn't be upset; I just think it's a bit soon for us is all. Now, what do you want to tell me?"

"I've invited a couple of colleagues to spend the break with us."

"Why wouldn't I like that? It's just a couple of professors. At least I'm assuming so; I highly doubt you invited Filch to stay with us."

"Filch never leaves Hogwarts so why would I invite him? No, I invited Dinah. You know her. We've become pretty good friends and I thought it would be nice to see her over the holiday." Lucy hesitated before going on, "I've also invited Severus Snape."

"_Snivellus_? Why on Earth would you invite him?"

"Because he's dating Dinah! And he was standing right there when I invited her. I couldn't very well not invite him!"

"Yes, you could have. Luce he's—"

"I know what he is. I work with the man day in and day out, but that is no reason to be rude."

"Lucy!" Sirius started to whine.

"Can you please just do me a favor and be polite? I happen to like Dinah and I don't really need her to be upset because my boyfriend can't be in the same room as her boyfriend."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Promise me you'll be nice. And please for the love of everything sacred _don't_ call him Snivellus!"

He sighed, "I promise to be on my best behavior in front of you."

Lucy crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at him. That answer wasn't good enough.

"All right! I promise to behave well as long as he's under my roof. Good enough?"

"For now." Several sharp knocks announced the arrival of their guests. Well, that and Mrs. Black's portrait screaming in the entranceway. "We really need to figure out what to do about your mother," Lucy sighed.

Sirius rose from the couch, put his arms around Lucy and gave her a peck. "I'll take care of Mother if you take care of our…guests."

"I'll greet them but you are going to have to acknowledge their presence in our home…maybe even interact with them occasionally."

"Perhaps," Sirius said, following Lucy towards the front door, "I'll just transfigure myself into Snuffles. For the duration."

"Don't you dare!" Lucy hurried past the screaming portrait, her hands over her ears, and reached for the front door. "Dinah! How are you?" Lucy greeted the other professor, wincing as Mrs. Black issued a final few screams. "Sorry about that. We need to be pretty quiet in this area. Otherwise, Sirius's mother screams her head off."

"You live with your mother?" Dinah asked Sirius, looking surprised, and then more confused when her comment elicited a snicker from Snape.

Sirius snorted, walking towards the group, "No."

Lucy swatted at him over her shoulder, "Don't mind him. He's just grumpy. Actually Mrs. Black has been dead for quite awhile. She just left a portrait of herself behind that likes to scream obscenities at people. She made sure we couldn't get rid of her by putting the thing up with a Permanent Sticking Charm, but as long as she's covered up and we don't wake her, she'll keep quiet." She stepped back to allow the couple standing on the stoop in. As Snape passed her she nodded, "Professor Snape," she said by way of greeting.

An elbow to his stomach had Sirius extending his hand towards the other man,

"Snivell—"

"Sirius!" Lucy exclaimed, stamping on his foot to shut him up. Unfortunately her yelling awakened Walburga Black again.

"Let's hurry and get out of this room," Dinah said before Snape could make a comment, "I can't hear myself think."

"Follow me!" Lucy shouted, hurrying up the stairs and leaving Sirius to once again deal with his mother.

Dinah nodded at Snape, looking relieved to be separating the two men for a few moments, and they followed Lucy up the stairs.

On one of the upper floors Lucy stopped at a closed door. "Dinah, this is going to be your room. I, uh," she hesitated, blushing, "well there's really no smooth way to say this but I also prepared the room across the hall for you, Severus. That is, uh, if you guys _want_ separate rooms. I didn't know so…"

Dinah and Snape exchanged glances but both their expressions were unreadable. Finally, Dinah spoke, "Whatever is more convenient for you is fine with us."

"Um, well, I've already cleaned both rooms so it's not inconvenient for you to have separate rooms but I don't really care if the two of you want to…you know. Sirius and I are staying upstairs so you don't have to worry about that…" Lucy sighed, "I have to clean a room upstairs anyway for when the family comes in. Honestly, Uncle Arthur and Aunt Molly know we've been living here by ourselves since the summer, but if they come here and we're sharing a bedroom…well, let's just say I'll probably end up married a lot sooner then I expect to be." Lucy grimaced, "Sorry. I'm babbling again. I'm a bit nervous. I know Severus and Sirius don't get along _and_ it's my first time hosting the family for the holidays…"

Dinah's face remained expressionless for the most part, but she looked mildly uncertain as she turned to Snape, a question in her eyes.

Snape sighed, "The two rooms are fine, since you've gone to the trouble. If, however, you need to clean one of them as the time for the rest of your family to arrive approaches we'd be happy to switch to sharing a single room."

Lucy laughed, waving him off, "Sorry, it's just, well, I'm sure you know this house has plenty of rooms and that it wasn't lived in for at least ten years. We have plenty of room. I just tend to ramble about semi-related topics when I'm nervous. Anyway, I'll leave you two to settle in now that you know where your rooms are. I'll go get some food ready for us to eat down in the kitchen, pretty informal. I'm sure you remember where the kitchen is at Severus, so I'll see you down there whenever you two are ready." Lucy said, quietly descending the once again silent staircase.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinah plopped her bag down on the large bed in her room and unzipped it, then started unpacking. As she carried her toiletries to the adjoining lavatory her mind turned to the awkwardness of the previous conversation with Lucy. Honestly she hadn't even considered that problem before coming here, her mind having been too preoccupied with whether or not Severus and Sirius could handle this visit without killing each other.

She hadn't ever really confided in Lucy the deeper aspects of their relationship. Lucy wasn't aware of the awkwardness of this subject. Wasn't aware that, although they had on occasion slept in the same bed, nothing had ever gone further than that. And, she couldn't help but think with a bitter smile, it probably wouldn't for a very long time. Not unless she spontaneously transformed into Lily Potter.

It didn't take long for Dinah to put away her things, and as she headed out into the hallway she saw Severus exiting from his own room at the same time. She smiled, "Unpacked?"

He nodded, frowning, "I still think it would have been better if this was only a day visit. I'm not sure how long the mongrel will be able to stand me in his home. You did notice that he nearly called me Snivellus earlier."

Dinah sighed and nodded, walking over to him, "He just doesn't understand."

Severus snorted, "Because he's an irresponsible, naïve, childlike-"

"Now come on, that's not helping," she interrupted. "If you're not civil then you can't expect him to be civil either."

"I haven't called him any names to his face," Severus replied simply.

"True…"

"We should go eat," he said, placing a light hand on her shoulder and guiding her towards the stairs.

She smiled at his initiation of physical contact. It was still rather rare, and she was going to indulge in the moment as much as possible. But as soon as they made it to the bottom of the stairs and began to approach the kitchen he let his hand fall back to his side. Well, that was to be expected. The man definitely wasn't one for public displays of affection.

At the kitchen door they could hear Lucy; "I asked you to be nice!"

"It's just habit, Lu."

"Be nice! It's the only thing I asked. Calling people names is not nice! I realize your mother probably never taught you that but honestly!" The pair turned towards the kitchen door when it opened. Lucy reddened, "Oh, um, sorry about that. Please sit down. The food's almost ready."

Dinah glanced at Severus. He had an almost amused expression on his face that made her crack a smile. But it was soon replaced by his usual indifference. She walked forward, choosing a random seat at the table to slide into, and tried to break the tension, "So what are we having?"

"Fajitas, pasta salad, and some peanut butter brownies for dessert. I hope you like it. It's kind of a weird combo I know, but I thought they were foods that most people enjoyed." She placed the pasta salad on the table and waved her wand to bring the fajita stuffs over. Dessert stayed on the counter.

"It looks delicious," Dinah smiled and dug into the pasta salad, which it turned out _was _rather delicious.

After a few bites she turned to look at Severus, who had sat beside her. He had taken a few bites himself, then looked up at Lucy, and despite his face being expressionless as usual, said, "It is very good." Dinah smiled. He was making so much progress.

Lucy beamed, "Thank you! How do you like your rooms?" Sirius sat next to her, quietly glowering at them.

"They're fine, thank you," Dinah smiled. "This is a nice old house… but there's so much room here for just two people."

Nodding, Lucy said, "Yeah, it is. But I like it. And besides it won't always be just the two of us."

Sirius choked on his food, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

"Relax. Breathe. Chew. Swallow," Lucy instructed. "When I said that I wasn't implying that we were going to fill this house up ourselves. I only meant that Harry, as your godson, will likely be staying here at some point, which likely means Ron and/or Ginny will be here, along with Hermione and at least a portion of the other Weasleys. I may not have a large immediate family but when you're related to the Weasleys you automatically get a large family."

Severus snorted under his breath, but Dinah waved him off and managed to hide her smile at Sirius's reaction; "It must be nice to have a large family. I love my family, but there's always been only a few of us. And Severus-" she paused and flushed, not sure why she had even started going down that path, "Well, never mind." A quick glance at her companion out of the corner of her eye revealed an unreadable expression, as usual.

"Most of the time it's nice. I've enjoyed getting to know them again. After Mum was killed it kind of spooked Dad and he pretty much kept me away from everyone and everything until I had to go to Hogwarts. Of course after Hogwarts I didn't do the things he thought I should so we don't really speak much anymore. That's when the large family comes in handy," Lucy smiled sadly.

"I see," Dinah nodded, understanding, and started to assemble a fajita. As she lifted the wrapped food up to her mouth to take a bite all of the insides spilled out from the back end. She laughed and put it down, "I guess I overfilled it."

Severus chuckled next to her, and she had to turn to smile back at him. It was worth it, spilling her food, if she could elicit one of those rare smiles from him. "Perhaps you should attack your food with a bit less zeal, to prevent such things from happening," he said.

Sirius smirked, "Lucy has the same problem."

"I do not!" she exclaimed, her face reddening.

One of Sirius's eyebrows rose in response.

"Not with food anyway," she took a small, lady-like bite of her fajita, nothing falling out the other side.

Dinah smiled slightly and hurried back to her food, this time careful _not _to lock eyes with Severus. Although she loved spending time with Lucy and Sirius, honestly their little innuendos got irritating when she was nowhere near such a relationship with Severus. On the other hand, it probably was bad form to be jealous. Still, she wasn't sure exactly what to say as she stuffed the fillings back into her fajita and resumed eating.

"I'm sorry. That was…" Lucy waved her hand through the air, "You probably didn't want to hear that. Believe me I know how it is. I had to listen to Tonks when her and Remus first got together and it got a bit sickening, not to mention way more information about…certain aspects of their relationship than I would ever have wanted to know."

Dinah forced a smile. Normally that comment would have cleared things up fine, if it was only her, Lucy, and Sirius in the room. But with Severus here, listening to every word, gauging her reactions and thinking who knew what, she was still uncomfortable and needed to quickly change the subject. "I suppose it's common for most newly involved couples. Don't worry about it. Anyway, these fajitas are really delicious! What did you put in them? Oh wait, that's a really stupid question, isn't it, seeing as I just assembled the thing myself. I suppose I could ask how you seasoned the meat, though. Yeah, maybe that's what I meant. So-" she froze as Severus reached over and put a hand on her arm. She realized she had been babbling; probably got it from being around Lucy so much. She forced herself to turn and meet his gaze.

"You don't have to try so hard to change the subject, Dinah," Severus said slowly, his expression unreadable but his eyes boring into her own, "I can handle this kind of topic as well as the rest of you can. And I'm fairly certain I know what you're thinking right now. All I can say at the moment is… perhaps eventually."

Dinah's face started to burn and she was fairly certain she looked rather like a large beet right now. She turned back to her plate and began shoving the fajita into her mouth at top speed. This get-together was providing more surprising circumstances than even she had expected. He had never said 'perhaps eventually' before. The most he had ever said was 'definitely not now'.

"Sorry again. I keep steering us right into awkward topics, huh? Dinah!" Lucy said abruptly, making Dinah jump. "Please tell me you're able to drive one of those…oh I forgot the word, motormoblie things?"

Dinah laughed, "A motor vehicle? A car? Sure I can drive one. I've got a license and everything."

"Lovely," Severus muttered under his breath.

Dinah ignored him, "But what on earth would you need that for?"

Lucy blushed, perhaps a bit embarrassed she had used the wrong word, "Well, I've never been in one before and I thought that if you were interested we could use one to go to a Muggle bookstore."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Should have known it had something to do with books," he mumbled.

"Of course we'd probably have to convince these two to come along or get them a baby-sitter." Lucy looked toward Severus, "No offense."

Dinah wasn't particularly surprised when Severus didn't respond other than to raise an eyebrow. "That sounds like it might be fun. But… well…" she turned to look at Severus.

He sighed and shrugged, "I suppose I have no choice. But traveling through the world of the Muggles," he said the last world in a tone of disgust, "We would, I assume, have to dress inconspicuously. Do we even have enough Muggle clothing here that all of us, male and female, could wear?"

Dinah frowned, "You do have a point. I don't suppose you have anything, Lucy? I could lend you something of mine, but for the men…"

"Hmm that does present a problem. Do you have any brothers we could borrow from? Or perhaps your father?" Lucy asked, not noticing the expression on the men's faces at the thought of borrowing Dinah's father's clothes.

"No, no brothers," Dinah grimaced at the thought of Severus dressed like her father, "I'm an only child. But my father's clothes… no, they likely wouldn't fit anyway," She smiled slightly as the men exhaled with relief. "But I'm sure we can figure something out. Well, how about this. We can apparate to my home, and it would only take me a short while to drive to a clothing boutique and buy something for them. That is, assuming you think you can handle staying behind with both of them."

"If you don't mind going out to buy the clothes, I think I can handle the boys. I can handle this one anyway," she pointed to Sirius. "I spent seven years calling Severus Professor Snape and it's still weird not to call him that. I can't tell him what to do but I'm thinking as long as we keep one of them in line…"

Dinah smiled, "All right. And I'll be quick. And, you shouldn't really have to worry…"

"I'll simply retreat to another room," Severus said without expression.

She frowned, "You should try to be more social." At his raised eyebrow she sighed and retorted, "Well it was just a _suggestion_!"

"Oh, now I feel bad! I don't want you to feel like you have to retreat into another room," Lucy addressed Severus. "I think it'll be fine, really," she rubbed her stomach as if she wasn't feeling well, "Oh, I think I need a popsicle. Does anyone else want one?"

"Lu, it's the middle of winter, no one wants a popsicle. And you don't have to worry about being alone in the room with just the two of us. I can behave myself just as well as…Severus."

Lucy rolled her eyes and mumbled, "That's not very reassuring," before rising from the table. "Well I'm having one. If anyone else would like one there are plenty of orange ones in the freezer."

Dinah chuckled. "Actually that does sound rather appetizing, for some odd reason. But we should really get ready to go if we're going. We are going, right?"

"Sure, if you think now would be a good time and your parents won't mind. I can always eat my dessert there," Lucy said reaching into the freezer, "Would you like orange? I do have cherry and grape if you'd rather have one of those; I just don't like orange so those ones tend to pile up."

"Orange is fine. But I think you've misunderstood. If I'm going out to buy the clothes myself we'll go to my place, not my parents. Really, that will save time as that's where my car is anyway, assuming we're at least all going together to the bookstore. Besides, I'm not… quite sure it's yet time for Severus to meet my parents."

"Ah, yes I did misunderstand. I didn't realize you had a place of your own in the Muggle world. And I get the parents meeting the guy thing. Sirius hasn't met my father yet. Lucky me I got to meet his mother before I met him," Lucy said the last bit dryly, sticking an orange popsicle in front of Dinah.

Dinah laughed, "I doubt that woman would have it any other way. But then I suppose we should go," she finished the last of her brownie and devoured the popsicle in a few quick bites while everyone stared at her. She laughed again, "You know a brownie and a popsicle one right after the other is a bit strange." She stood up. "At any rate, since I am currently the only one that knows the location of my house we'll have to use side-along apparition. So, Severus take my left hand and Lucy and Sirius my right," she said with authority.

The group obeyed, Lucy stuffing her still unopened popsicle into her robes, and soon they had vanished from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and landed in the spacious living room of Dinah's London home. Dinah smiled and let go of their hands as she looked around. She hadn't been home in some time, and it was nice to see the place again.

Lucy looked around, her eyes wide, taking in all the new sights, "This looks nice," she wandered over to a switch on the wall, "What does this do?"

Dinah smiled, "Flip it up."

Lucy did, jumping when the lights turned on. "Oh! Sort of like a_ lumos_ charm isn't it?"

Sirius laughed.

"What? It does the same thing, doesn't it?"

He shook his head, "Just not used to seeing you clueless and exploring new things."

She smiled at him, "Well, you should be," she quickly covered her mouth, blushing, "Sorry! I've done it again!"

Dinah flushed and was about to attempt to come up with some kind of response when she was saved from commenting by the lights flickering and going out. "Hm," Dinah mused, "That's never happened before. I guess it's because there's four of us here that it shorted out. I've never had more than one other wizard in this house at a time before." She gave her wand a flick and the light came back on, "There."

"Completely unnecessary," Severus muttered, "Don't you have to _pay _to use electricity? Isn't it a waste of your money to have it when you can simply use magic instead?"

"I don't think it's ethical to cheat the Muggle economy," she replied simply. "Besides, I'm not here that often. The bills never run too high. So I'm going to get going, then. Come outside and you can see the car."

They all followed her outside to her grey Volkswagen which was parked in the driveway.

"Wow…I…you ride_ inside _it, right?"

Dinah nodded, "Yes. But I would assume you'd know at least a little bit more about these from your uncle Arthur? I remember hearing about some sort of flying car incident-"

"Please!" Severus interrupted, "Let's not discuss that event in my presence."

Lucy nodded, "I know very little. I know you ride inside. Uncle Arthur's car flew; I'm assuming yours and other Muggles' cars don't. Whoever sits behind the wheel tells the car which direction to go. Other than that I have no idea. Aunt Molly didn't let him take the car out much…and well then there was that incident and I don't think we've seen the car since."

Dinah laughed, "Well, I guess that would make sense." At Severus's glare she cleared her throat and changed the subject, "Anyway, I'd better get going. I'm going to guess at your sizes, but I think I should get pretty close if not perfect. And perhaps we can change the sizes with a spell if necessary. Good luck with the guys, Lucy – If there's any problem you can magically contact my mobile like I showed you once before. I'll have it on me."

"There will be no problems," Severus insisted, walking up to the driver's side with her. "And if you must insist on it I will _try _to be social."

She smiled, "Thanks."

His mouth turned up at the corners in a very slight hint of a smile as she got into the car. She looked out the window at Lucy and Sirius, "When I'm back we'll all ride in it together and then you can _really _see what it's like. So look forward to that," with one last wave she drove away, hoping against hope that everything would go well while she was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

"I guess we should go back inside now," Lucy said, watching Dinah drive down the road. "If someone happens to look out their window they're likely to think we're criminals or something."

"I _am_ a criminal," Sirius said, as Lucy grabbed his hand and led the group inside.

"Oh, hush. They cleared your record."

Back in the room they had first appeared in, Lucy and Sirius sat close together on the couch, his arm around her shoulders. Severus sat stiffly in a chair across from the couple. ""Professor, I've been wanting to ask you this since I started teaching at Hogwarts; well actually since we were in the Order together. I'm sure you'll say no, but I was wondering if you remember teaching me?"

"Hm," Severus made a noncommittal noise, not meeting either of their eyes directly, "It may surprise you, but I remember the majority of my students. Regardless of performance."

"Oh," Lucy said, not sure how to take that statement, "You're probably thinking of that one time I got detention…"

"You got detention?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"Once," she sank lower on the couch, making herself smaller. She was beginning to regret bringing up this topic for conversation; it had seemed like a safe one earlier. "I was a third year. In Potions."

Severus sighed, "That comment was a generalization and not meant for interpretation. I remember students more clearly than I do grades. As far as I can recall your performance was decent enough. I believe you received either an "Acceptable" or "Exceeds Expectations" in your O.W.L.s. I do recall the detention, however."

Lucy sat up a little straighter, relieved that Snape wasn't referring to her specifically with his comment. "I think it was "Outstanding" actually. I think that's what you required to continue on with Potions. I know I got an "E" in my N.E.W.T.s because I had to have that in order to start my Auror training."

"Wait, I want to go back to this detention," Sirius interrupted, "What could Little Miss Perfect possibly have done to get _detention_?"

"I'm not perfect. Getting detention proves it."

"One detention," he pointed out, "I got detention at least once a month."

"I argued with the Professor. I had read about being able to substitute one ingredient for another in whatever potion we were making at the time and I asked about it. He told me no and I argued my point with the facts I had on hand. I had the book with me."

"Hm," Snape frowned, "You must have done exceptionally well in that case. I don't give Outstanding scores easily."

Sirius snorted, "Not to Gryffindors anyway. I suppose it's lucky you were a Ravenclaw, Lu."

"Sirius, don't. We all tend to favor our own houses in some way."

"Not Dinah," Severus, although he had initially looked angry at Sirius's comment, became suddenly subdued after Lucy spoke, and an unusually curious expression crossed his face. "She continues to insist that separating students into houses is bad practice."

Lucy nodded, "In some ways I think it is. Think about it. We share a dorm with the same people we go to class with and eat with. Though the students do get free time and can socialize with anyone they usually don't. The only reason I really socialized outside my house was because I was related to Bill and Charlie and Tonks was almost as much of an outcast as I was…because she's really clumsy, not because she was shy or socially inept.

"At the same time though it gives students like Harry something they've never had before, family. They also learn how to deal with each other and resolve conflicts because at the end of the day they're still sharing a common room and probably a bedroom with these people."

"All valid points, I suppose," Severus agreed thoughtfully. "Perhaps it's simply a matter of pushing sorting back a few years. Dumbledore once confessed to me that he often felt sorting took place too early in a student's life..." he grimaced suddenly and shook his head, not offering any more on the subject. "At any rate, like him, Dinah is an incurable idealist."

"That's not such a bad trait you know. Though delaying sorting brings up a whole other set of problems. Like where do we put them? The only dormitories we have are the houses, unless you want to count the faculty's rooms. And besides, I don't know that delaying the sorting would matter much anyway. As I told Dinah not long after we met, 'it's amazing how much we change and yet still stay the same'. I have no doubt that if I were to be sorted now I'd still end up in Ravenclaw," Lucy laughed a little, "Perhaps not as quickly as before, though."

"I often wonder if that _is_ the case for everyone," Severus mused, seeming distracted. "Hopefully so."

"Mm," Lucy said, sensing that anything more than that would delve into a subject that Severus was not interested in sharing. The group quieted, Lucy absently stroking Sirius's knee while he did the same to her arm.

She stopped and flushed when she noticed Severus regarding them with a raised eyebrow and a mild cynical expression. But he said nothing more than, "I wonder when Dinah will return..."

Lucy was about to try and think up some kind of response when a movement near the staircase across from the front entranceway caught her eye. "What in the world...?"

The rest of them turned with wide eyes to see what she had been staring at. A small brown bag with a long looping handle, along with a pile of nicely folded Muggle clothes, had just come into view floating through the air over the staircase. The strange cluster of objects reached the bottom and their three pairs of eyes followed it as it floated through the sitting room past them. A window on the far wall opened, allowing the items to float through and out of sight as the window promptly shut behind them.

There was complete and utter silence for a few moments as they all tried to digest the meaning of this recent event. And then without warning, something happened that caused both Lucy and Sirius to jump and shrink back in their seats. Severus had started laughing. Not simply a mild chuckle like they had recently witnessed at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place... that had been shocking enough. But this was real laughter.

"Dinah left without taking her Muggle money and while still wearing her robes," Severus explained. "I hadn't thought much of it until now. She must have just remembered and used a summoning charm. At any rate, it will probably still be some time before we can expect her back. That is," he stopped and cleared his throat, looking suddenly embarrassed as his face snapped back to its normal stoic expression, "Well, I believe that's what we just witnessed. Yes." He stood up, "I believe I shall attempt to find the restroom." He left the room

Lucy and Sirius stared at each other after he left.

"And everyone thinks _I'm_ the crazy one," Sirius said.

"That was…really strange," Lucy said, shifting on the couch. "I'm all for him being happy and all but," she shook her head, "I don't know, that was plain weird."

"I don't know about that," Sirius said, probably doubting whether Snape deserved happiness after all that had happened.

"Oh, come off it. Even a crazy murderer is allowed to be happy, let Severus get some if he wants."

Sirius shuddered, "Please I really don't want to think about Snivel—" he cut himself off at a glare from Lucy, "Severus getting some."

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. Sometimes it really seemed like he'd never gotten past the age of sixteen.

"You are disgusting," Lucy looked around slightly worried, "He's been gone awhile…do you think he's okay? Is he hiding? Should I try to go find him?"

"He's fine. He'll come back when he wants to. We're just sitting here in the living room. We aren't chasing him away or anything."

"Well, we haven't exactly made this the friendliest atmosphere either."

"How so?"

"With the comments and the touching."

"You like the touching."

"Yes, well, it seems to be making both Dinah and Severus uncomfortable and I'd like them to feel comfortable. I don't think they're quite as…" Lucy searched for a different word and couldn't think of one, "comfortable in their relationship as we are. They haven't been seeing each other all that long really and their first impressions of each other weren't as stellar as ours."

"No one in the world could have the same spark as us. Though anyone meeting Severus for the first time is sure to have a rather unfavorable opinion of him."

"Hmm he doesn't exactly make it easy to be friendly to him at times that's for sure, but I suspect you know more about that than you're letting on."

They both looked up as Severus came back into the room from a back hallway he had disappeared into, his usual frown planted firmly on his face. "As she won't be back for a while, I'm going to attempt to find something to drink in the Muggle kitchen. If you want something, say so now."

Lucy rose from the couch, "I don't want anything thank you, but I'm interested in checking out a Muggle kitchen. Do you want me to bring you anything back Sirius?"

"Just one thing."

"What?"

"You."

Lucy shook her head, "Flirt. Is there anything in the way of a beverage I might bring back with me?"

"I'd really like a butterbeer but I don't think Muggles have that."

"I doubt it but I'll find out."

"Not that I'm aware of," Severus said, "But if you insist on coming, let's go now." He turned and walked towards the kitchen, forcing Lucy to rush to keep up.

She hoped that he would be a little more relaxed without Sirius in the room. It was a long shot she knew, but she was an optimist. In the kitchen, the pair stopped and looked around them, not touching anything. "You don't happen to know anything about Muggle kitchens, do you? Probably not. After all, why would you? It's just that it seems like it would be kind of rude to start looking through cupboards and the like without permission…" She was babbling again and she was pretty sure the other professor hated it when she did that, especially as the habit seemed to be rubbing off on Dinah.

"I don't believe she would mind," Severus replied, staring at the tall silver thing with two doors on it that stood in front of them rather than at Lucy, "Seeing as she left without thinking about much of anything, clearly."

Lucy giggled, "You're probably right," she took a step towards the thing Severus was staring intently at, "What do you suppose this does?" She pulled on the handle, "Oh, my that opens up…it's certainly cold in this thing. Oh no!" she began searching through her robes, pulling out a rather soggy package, "I forgot about my popsicle! I was going to eat it once we got here but now it's melted! Well, this is unfortunate. It's a good thing Dinah's gone to get clothes," Lucy placed the melted popsicle on a shelf in the cold thing, "Maybe that will help," she closed the door quickly.

"'This thing' is called a refrigerator," Severus said slowly, not bothering to explain how he knew this piece of information, "And closing it will not help when any cold beverages we may be seeking are likely inside of it." He walked forward and opened the door again, looking the shelves up and down.

Lucy stood on tip-toe to peer over his shoulder at the contents inside the refrigerator with her melted popsicle, "What's all that?" She pointed to a cluster of bottles holding red, yellow, and brown contents.

"Various condiments I would assume," Severus rolled his eyes, turning the bottles around so that the labels could be seen, "Ketchup, mustard, and barbecue sauce."

"Oh," Lucy said, disappointed it wasn't something more interesting, "You know, you seem to be pretty knowledgeable about Muggle things for a pureblood," at Severus's expression Lucy tried to backtrack, fearing she has insulted the man. "I don't mean that as an offense. It's just that most purebloods don't know much, if anything, about Muggles."

Severus sighed, and gave a nearly unnoticeable shrug, but the normal frown remained set on his face. "If you must know, I'm half-blood."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to pry. I just…you know, there's probably no digging myself out of the hole I've gotten into. I could really care less about who's a what but that should be no surprise coming from someone with my background. Actually it seems to me that the majority of the most talented witches and wizards of the age are half-bloods and Muggle-borns. It's good that it's that way I think. New gene pools help keep everyone from getting inbred. The Blacks have the most messed up family tree…and this isn't getting us something to drink."

Severus shook his head, looking almost more amused than frustrated, probably at her rambling. "Dinah likes to bring up the inbreeding reasoning a lot as well. But that's neither here nor there." He pointed to the lower shelf, "It appears that this is where she keeps her beverages."

Lucy reached past Severus and grabbed a clear bottle of what she assumed was water and another container that read "Root Beer". "I think I understand how to use this one," she held up the bottle of water, "but what is this one?" she held up the other container.

Severus just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Well I can read that it's root beer. I'm talking about the container. What is it? And how does one open it? I'm not really sure I understand what root beer is either. Is it like butterbeer?"

Severus frowned, "It may depend on your opinion. Certain aspects of the flavor might be similar. I can't quite recall..." he shook his head and took one of the bottles of water. "At any rate, I intend to look for a glass to pour this into because I refuse to drink out of this Muggle bottle."

She looked around the kitchen for a moment before walking towards a cabinet. "Well, if this were my kitchen I'd put the glasses next to this rather strange looking sink, or at least that's what I assume it is," she reached up to open the door and pulled out two tall glasses, "Not everything is so terribly different in the Muggle world. But that still doesn't explain how we are going to get the root beer out of that thing."

"Try and figure it out," Severus smirked, unscrewing the translucent white cap from the bottle of water and pouring it into a glass.

Lucy looked at the container, noticing a metal tab and a partially cut out semi-circle around one end of the tab, "You must have to poke a hole in it somehow as there's nothing to twist off and it doesn't have a bottle cap…" She had a hard time getting her fingers underneath the tab but once she did it pressed down on the semi-circle, causing the can to hiss at her. "Is it supposed to do that?" she asked while continuing to pull up on the tab, quickly breaking through the can and making a hole in the top. "Oh! Look at that! I figured it out," she smiled to herself, "I guess I'm still a Ravenclaw after all."

"Excellent," Severus said with a sort of half-smile, tossing the empty bottle idly into the sink and heading back towards the living room without asking Lucy to follow.

"Oooh!" she grabbed the glass and took it and the root beer out of the kitchen with her, quickly following Severus. "Severus!" she said it a bit louder than she intended but he stopped and turned around. "There was one more thing I wanted to ask you before we rejoined Sirius. Have you gotten Dinah a Christmas present yet? If you haven't I can help if you'd like. Or perhaps I can look at it and let you know if she'd like it. I don't mean to offend you for about the hundredth time or anything it's just I know how guys can be when buying presents for girls. Just two months ago Sirius got me a wand case for my birthday…it wasn't anywhere near my birthday nor did I really need a wand case…"

Severus just stood there staring at her for what seemed like five minutes. His gaze was either calculating or unreadable, she couldn't quite tell.

"So... I guess that's a no, then? Well, that's fine; it was just an idea after all. Back to the living room then." She hurried past the still-unmoving Severus toward the living room, embarrassed.

"I hadn't really thought about it," Severus's sudden, unexpected announcement caused her to turn back around to face him, surprised. "I suppose I probably should buy her something, shouldn't I?" he continued, almost to himself.

"It'd be a good idea. I don't think Dinah's one of those girl's who'd get mad if you didn't but I do think she'd be hurt. I don't know for sure that she's gotten you something either, so that's something else to consider."

Severus almost laughed, "I doubt she'd know what to buy for me. But I suppose if you have any suggestions I wouldn't mind hearing them."

Lucy giggled, "Gift giving is a tricky business for anyone. Don't think you're the only one that's hard to buy for. Clothes aren't always the best idea, unless you know her taste and size. Size is the most important. If you don't know that you run the risk of it being too small and making her feel fat and if they're too big she might think you think she's fat. Jewelry is always good but in my opinion it depends on how serious the relationship is. Personally I appreciate the sentiment when someone buys me a book but I also secretly hate it. There's a good chance I either own it or have read it but that's me not Dinah. My best advice would probably be: think about the things she likes and her interests. That should lead to the right present…just make sure you don't give her a wand case four months before her actual birthday. That's libel to lead to an argument."

Severus grimaced, "Women are impossibly complicated."

"Yes, we are, but that makes it all the more fun doesn't it? Besides, some of us, Dinah and me included, appreciate the effort even if it does sometimes fall flat. We'd best be getting back I think," Lucy said, heading to the living room, not asking Severus to follow, much as he had done a minute or two before.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks everybody for the reviews so far! I'm glad to see some of the fans of the other stories are checking this one out as well :)

* * *

Dinah was just driving past Piccadilly Circus when she began to get the strange feeling that something was missing. She frowned and slowed the car, pulling down a side street. It was like the feeling when you forgot to wear a watch or a ring after you'd been wearing it for a long time – that sort of strange, nagging sense of nakedness. Something was definitely wrong.

The loose brown sleeves of her robe dangled in front of her as she turned the steering wheel to pull over to a safe spot on the side of the road to think this through. And then it hit her. What had just been staring her in the face was _not _supposed to be there!

"Oh, damn!" she cursed, looking down at herself in an unnecessary verification of what she knew to be true. She was wearing her witch robes. And not only that, but she had grabbed her car keys sans her purse or wallet.

She wasn't going to get very far in the department store in such a state.

Well, there wasn't much choice in the matter. She _needed _that stuff and just wasn't in the mood to drive back home and get it. She pulled her willow and unicorn tail wand out of her robes and rolled down the car window. Giving her wand a flick, she announced, "_Accio _clothes! _Accio _purse!"

It took a few minutes but soon the necessary items floated through the window and into her waiting hands. After checking that nobody was around, she tactfully changed clothes in the car and continued on her way.

Of course, she had forgotten a coat. But there was no point in summoning more stuff, so needless to say it was a relief when she emerged into the warm store out of the cold winter air. She sighed and looked up at the well-lit ceiling, surrounded by the smells of leather, fresh cloth, and perfume samples. It was nice to be back in Muggle civilization.

Well, she'd never really spent a lot of time shopping for men's clothes, so this would be an adventure. The men's department was fairly large, and she started in the blue jeans section. It was easier to think about the raw basics first.

Both Sirius and Severus were average-sized men, so there was no worry about especially small or large or tall or short pants. But she definitely wanted well-fitted jeans, none of those terrible baggy ones the kids were wearing these days. Once she found the correct style, she grabbed a pair for each of them in a medium size, then as an afterthought grabbed a size above and below for each of them. She could take back whichever ones didn't fit, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

As she headed away from the jeans section to the shirts area she felt a silly grin spread across her face. This was going to be terribly enjoyable… after all, it was almost like playing dress-up as a child, but even more exciting. She found herself wondering what kinds of outfits she could try and put together for Severus. How would he look in a suit, for instance? And what color shirts should she get?

The silly grin turned wicked as a plot formed in her mind. He always wore black, and it was flattering of course but… suddenly an image of him in a loose-fitting _white _dress shirt floated into her mind. If she bought it, perhaps he'd feel obligated to wear it. Really, why shouldn't she just get him lots of clothes and offer him an endless array of choices.

Severus in Muggle clothes… oh, this was going to be great!

She absentmindedly grabbed a medium-sized blue shirt for Sirius, and then got started on project "dress-up Severus". By the time she was at the cash register she had gotten him three more pairs of pants as well as four shirts. She'd felt obligated to provide him with at least one black outfit, but desperately hoped he'd choose one of the other options. If not right away, then perhaps eventually.

Needless to say she spent more money than she had intended, but no matter. She barely bought Muggle things anymore, so she had the cash to spare. Besides, ₤350 wasn't _that _bad…

Oh, well! No matter! It was time to go back and deliver the goods anyway, and she couldn't get into the car fast enough. It seemed to take twice as much time to get back home as it did to drive to the department store, even with her stopping to summon the things she had forgotten. But at long last she pulled into her driveway at 31 Oakby Lane and hurried up to the front porch.

The place was quiet when she came in, and she found the three of them sitting around in the living room, Severus with a glass of water and Sirius with a glass of some brown liquid, "I'm back!" she announced, smiling. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't even think to offer you all refreshments. But I guess you managed to help yourselves all right. What is that?" she pointed to Sirius's glass.

"Lucy says it's a root beer," Sirius replied, looking at the contents of the glass. "It tastes nothing like roots...or beer. It's good though."

Dinah had to laugh, "Well, I'm glad you like it. Yes, I never really understood the name myself. I think it _is _seasoned from some kind of root, but it's nothing like beer, aside from the carbonation," she turned to Severus. "Just water, huh? I never figured you for the adventurous type when it came to Muggle things."

Severus responded with one of his usual, half-smiles, half-smirks, "You've figured correctly as usual," his gaze shifted down and he raised an eyebrow.

Dinah flushed and hid the bulging shopping bag behind her legs, not that it did much good. "Well, I got the clothes, anyway. Er, I guess I should hand them out now."

"Oh," Lucy perked up. "What do we owe you for them? I mean I don't have any Muggle money but I'm sure we can work something out."

"Oh, I didn't even think about that. Don't worry about it, you can just think of it as a kind of a Christmas present. Besides, er, the bulk of this is for Severus." She pulled the bag out from behind her and took out a gigantic pile of clothes. She handed the jeans and blue shirt to Sirius, "These are for you." She next tried to ignore everyone's stares as she handed a towering pile of clothes to Severus, "And for you."

Severus looked more bewildered than anything as he took the clothes from her, "I'd say something about this, but you probably don't want to hear my comments."

Ignoring Severus, Lucy rose from the couch tugging on Sirius's hand, "Come on, let's go get changed."

"Us?" he looked down at the pile of clothes Dinah had handed him, "There are no clothes here for you to change into."

Lucy rolled her eyes at him, "You can be so dense. Anyway the quicker you get changed the quicker we can go for a ride in the car!"

"You do know I used to have a motorcycle, right? I find the car less fascinating than you do."

"So? Besides, that motorcycle flew so it's hardly the same," she turned to Dinah, cutting off any response Sirius might have made, "Is there some place in particular you'd like him to change?"

"Upstairs, turn right and go into the first door on your left. That's the guest room. Severus, why don't you go into the second room on your left, just past the guest room. That's my bedroom and you can change in there. Then when you guys are done I'll lend you some of my clothes to wear, Lucy."

"That's all well and good," Severus rolled his eyes, "But which of these clothes, pray tell, would you like me to change into?"

She flushed again, "Just put something on. I simply felt like providing you with some… er, choices. After all, we might spend more time in Muggle society, and now you have options."

Severus didn't respond, but stood and headed up the stairs with the giant pile. Dinah sighed, glad this was over for now, and turned to Lucy and Sirius, "Sound okay to both of you?"

"Sure," Lucy said. "If you want you can just pick out whatever and toss it to me in the guest room. I can change in there. It'll save time and continue to keep the boys separated."

"Probably wise," she nodded, and Lucy and Sirius headed upstairs together. Dinah waited a few moments and followed them up. She might as well get the clothes to Lucy while she was still in there with Sirius. No point in having her come down and then go back up; and of course it lowered the odds of hearing more innuendos she'd have to ignore. She knocked on her own bedroom door. "Severus? Are you done yet? I need to get in here to pick something for Lucy."

"Come in," he responded.

She opened the door and was greeted with him standing facing her, wearing the black jeans and black long-sleeved shirt she had picked. She sighed. Black of course. Well, she'd just have to work on him to get him to wear the other stuff in the future.

And besides, the black outfit looked _really good_. Without the robes he looked more human. Of course, perhaps that was a result of her Muggle upbringing, but she had always preferred men in Muggle clothes over wizard robes. Too bad Severus had such a negative view of Muggle society. It was going to be hard to get him to wear that kind of stuff often, even the black outfit.

"I thought you needed to pick clothes for Lucy," Severus raised an eyebrow, his favorite gesture.

Dinah felt her face turn bright red as she realized that she had been staring. "Oh, right, I guess I should," she hurried past him to the dresser and pulled open a couple of drawers. A pair of blue jeans and a green jumper looked good, so she grabbed them and set them on the bed.

"They aren't going to do her much good there."

Dinah flushed again and turned to face Severus, "I guess not."

He regarded her for a moment and then smiled a little, "I'll never understand your behaviors."

"I wouldn't act so strange around anyone but you," she retorted.

"Not quite sure what I should make of that," he mused. "By the way, I admit that although I dislike Muggle clothing as a general rule…"

She raised an eyebrow of her own as he didn't finish his sentence, "You find those comfortable?" she guessed.

"No. Well, they're all right, I suppose. What I was going to say was that you look nice in them."

That did it. She was fairly certain a beet would pale in comparison to how red her face was right now. He had _actually _said that? She must be dreaming! "I, um… thanks…"

He was either completely dense or ignoring her reaction, because he changed the subject, "Oh, and… the clothes out the window?" He almost looked like he was going to laugh.

She laughed, "Oh, that. Well, I haven't been in Muggle society in awhile… I just forgot."

"Mmhm," he half-smiled and took a step forward, regarding her with an interested expression. An almost intense expression; "You truly are a curious person, Dinah."

She felt the color rising again in her cheeks as he spoke her name. He still didn't do it often enough for her to be used to it. "Well, I'm glad I amuse you."

"Mm," he repeated, his fingers coming up to her chin, tilting it toward him so that he could meet her eyes.

Dinah felt her throat closing as she stared into the black depths. He was leaning closer to her, and suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe. "Severus…"

He smiled a little, and Dinah was surprised she didn't spontaneously combust in that moment. She certainly felt like she was on fire. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. His face came closer…

A few knocks sounded on the wall to the left and then Lucy's voice came through. "Dinah? Is everything okay? Do you have the clothes?"

Dinah's heart sunk as Severus let go of her and took a rather large step back. He cleared his throat, "You should probably get those clothes to Lucy."

"Yeah," without looking at him Dinah grabbed the pants and shirt and left the room. _Curse you, Lucy! I almost had an innuendo of my very own and you had to go and spoil it! _ She opened the door wearing a crabby expression; "Here," she shoved them at Lucy.

Lucy's eyebrows rose, "Whoops, did I interrupt something good?"

Dinah paused and then laughed, "Sorry, I guess that was rude of me. I wasn't thinking much. As you said, you," she blushed and cleared her throat, "interrupted something good."

"Oh, sorry! I know how that is. You'll have to tell me all about it at some point here. Well maybe not here since we'd probably want to be alone for that type of discussion and, well, you know, so there's no point in endlessly repeating it."

"Right," Dinah wasn't quite sure what they would be endlessly repeating, but she did think that telling a friend about what just happened would be good. That way it would be somehow validated if Severus never mentioned it again. If someone else knew, it would be further confirmation that it had been real. "I'll definitely have to tell you about it."

"Sounds great. And feel free to ask whatever questions you want. I'm not an expert but I'll be open and honest. Probably extremely red in the face too but I think that comes with the whole talking about intimate things deal. Anyway, give me two minutes and we'll be down. I can kick Sirius out if that'll make you feel better about the two of us being alone in your guest room but that really cuts down on the chance of you getting back to that good stuff," Lucy smiled.

Dinah laughed, "If only 'getting back' to it was that easy with Severus. Don't worry about it, I'll just go downstairs. Meet me in the front hall when you're ready and we'll go."

"Um, actually I do have one quick question," Lucy stepped out and slightly closed the door. "Do you plan on just going for a drive tonight or actually going to a bookstore? It's just it's getting kind of late and I don't know how long Muggle bookstores stay open. And if we're not going tonight, if we stay here, which we don't have to do if you'd rather not, I should go back and at least feed Dora. She'll make it through the night if I don't but she'll be pissed at me tomorrow."

Dinah glanced at her watch, "Well, it's 7:30… don't worry, the bookstore I'm taking us to doesn't close until ten. And then we can apparate back to your place. Not that I'd mind having people stay here, but I only have two rooms and if I was too insistent upon such a thing… well, I don't want to sound desperate."

Lucy laughed, "I understand. I guess I'd better go change. We'll be down in like two minutes."

Dinah smiled and nodded, then headed downstairs to wait for them.


	5. Chapter 5

Lucy went back into the guest room and closed the door. When she turned around Sirius had that look in his eye. "No."

"What?" he asked, pretending innocence.

"You know what. Maybe later. When we're in our own home and our own bed. We're making Dinah feel awkward enough as it is." She quickly changed while Sirius stood, watching.

"You look…different."

Her eyebrows lowered in suspicion, "Different is usually code for ugly."

He shook his head, "Just not used to seeing you in pants is all. You look good."

Lucy wasn't sure she believed him, "Even in the green? Everyone loves to put a ginger in green. It emphasizes my hair, my porcelain skin, and my green eyes."

"You don't have green eyes, but it still looks good on you," he kissed her cheek before trying to move over to her lips.

Lucy pushed him away; "Nice try and if we weren't going to a bookstore it might have worked. Speaking of which we should probably head downstairs." She opened the door and looked back at him.

"You first. After all I am a gentleman."

Lucy snorted, "Yeah, you just want to use me as cover is all. Lucky for you I really want to go to this Muggle bookstore and I don't want to wait for you to," she waved her hand at him, "well you know."

Downstairs the pair entered the living room to see Dinah smiling up at Severus, apparently over something he'd said, or perhaps it was just because he was holding her hand. Not to be outdone, Sirius grabbed one of Lucy's hands before the other couple noticed their presence.

Dinah's smile didn't disappear when Severus let go of her hand. She just shook her head fondly in his direction and then turned to Lucy and Sirius; "Ready to go? I have the car warming up outside."

"Yes!" Lucy started to lead the group outside, saying, "This is about the point where Aunt Molly would look at Uncle Arthur and swear I must be his child."

"Because of the car and the bookstore?" Dinah asked with a laugh, leading them outside to the large rumbling piece of metal with wheels and clicking some sort of button on her key ring. There was a clicking noise and Dinah opened the back door. "Do you two mind sitting in the back?"

"Not at all," Lucy figured it was probably safer in the back anyway with the noises the car was making. She shoved Sirius in the car ahead of her saying, "It's probably more to do with my enthusiasm over Muggle things than any specific object—" She turned to look back at Sirius sitting in the seat by the open door; "Would you get _all_ the way in or do you expect me to crawl over you?"

Dinah laughed, "I hate it when people do that. Granted, it's sometimes hard to decide who gets to sit where. It's even worse with kids."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "He is a kid," she turned back to Sirius, arms crossed in front of her chest; "If you don't move over we'll be late to the bookstore and I won't be happy." She didn't even have to threaten to kick him out of bed. Not that she'd make him sleep on the couch, she thought that was rather petty, but he always assumed she would and that was enough she supposed. He silently moved over and Lucy climbed in, flashing him a smile.

Dinah shut the door behind them and then let Severus in the front before coming around to the driver's seat. "Well, here goes," she said and began to back out of the drive.

The sensation of being in a moving car wasn't unlike that of riding a broom, except for the lack of wind. It was also more comfortable seeing as Lucy was sitting in a seat rather than on a hard, skinny stick. Lucy leaned forward to peer at the front of the car. "That thing tells the car which direction to go, right? And those? What do those do?" she pointed at an area past the steering wheel where different arrows pointed at many different numbers and dash marks.

"Why does it matter?" Severus grumbled.

Dinah ignored him. "Various things. Like how fast you're going and how much petrol you have left. Things like that."

"Oh," Lucy said, leaning back into her seat. "It doesn't really matter I suppose, I was just curious is all." She turned, pressing her face up against the glass, "Ah!" she screeched as the glass started moving downward; "Did I do something wrong?"

"Careful!" Dinah said with a laugh. "That little lever-button underneath your elbow rolls down the window."

"You think you should perhaps be looking at the road and not at Lucy's elbow?" Severus muttered.

"Oh, hush!" Dinah said, "I've been driving a lot longer than you have. Now Lucy, could you push up on the lever, please? It's getting kind of cold with that open."

"Not a problem. I don't want to return to Hogwarts with a cold," she used one hand to push the lever up and leaned forward, tapping Severus on the shoulder, "You know, I think that's one of the first times you've ever used my name."

Before Severus could respond Dinah turned and smiled at Lucy; "He's been calling you that to me in private for awhile now. I think it's because he hears me talking about you all the time," she laughed, "Actually he probably uses your name more than he uses mine."

"You wouldn't know who I was talking about if I didn't use a name," Severus said.

"Still," Dinah said, "I'd assume you'd say Professor Ketteridge. You did at first, but..."

"Well, as you say, your own references must have rubbed off," he replied.

Lucy shrugged, "Our habits rub off on others I suppose. For instance I find myself spending more time outside then I would have before I lived with Sirius. I think he just likes doing it because he _can_ not because he actually enjoys the outdoors."

She squealed when Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her firmly back into the seat next to him. "Get back here and stop telling tales about me," he said with a peck on the cheek.

"I'm doing nothing but telling the truth," she said, smiling. A few moments later she gasped and pointed out the window, "Is that it?"

"That's it!" Dinah pulled into what appeared to be a gigantic square-shaped black road in front of the building. She stopped the car in-between some yellow lines that made an almost-rectangle.

Lucy looked around them, slightly disappointed, "This doesn't look like much of a book store."

"I don't think this part is the actual store, Lu," Sirius said, opening his door and exiting the car.

Dinah laughed, "This is just the car park. I have to leave my car somewhere while we're inside the store, don't I?"

Lucy was sure her face was pink with embarrassment. It certainly felt like it. "I suppose you do. I guess you should lead, Dinah, as you know where we're going."

They all clambered out of the car and Dinah led the way to a large brown building with a strange, large window in front. It turned out that the window was a door of some sort, and Dinah pushed open one side of it. They walked through a tiny, rectangular room which was as cold as it was outside. And then another set of strange glass doors led the way into a large room full of shelves and shelves of books. A great deal of people, too. Lucy supposed that wasn't too surprising as it was getting close to the holidays and wizards' stores experienced a surge in sales, much like this Muggle store seemed to be enduring.

She probably looked like an idiot. A grown woman marveling at something as mundane as a bookstore. Still, it was new to her and this was a store nearly filled with books she'd never heard of. She had not yet taken her fill of looking at the store when she was shoved from behind. The rather short, skinny woman muttered; "God, the nerve of some people, just stand in front of the door why don't you, so no one else can get in!"

The woman was gone before Lucy could do more than huff, "Well, that was rude. Even if I was in the wrong a simple 'excuse me' would have been nice."

"I wouldn't expect excellent manners from any Muggles," Snape smirked, "That said, I do believe the rest of us would like to get in further past this doorway. You wouldn't particularly mind going forward now, would you?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you weren't all in," Lucy wandered farther into the store and through some aisles, the rest of the party following her. "Oh! Let's head over that way. That's my section!"

Sirius just rolled his eyes and followed.

Every so often Lucy would pull a book off the shelf and read the back before either returning it to its place or adding it to the ever-growing pile of books she carried.

"And can I ask how you plan on paying for all of those?" Sirius asked her.

"Oh…well…um…"

Dinah laughed, "Good question, Sirius! Well, I think we can figure out the exchange rate and I can cover you. But you're going to owe me an awful lot of Galleons," she winked.

Lucy was only slightly embarrassed. It wasn't as if her love of books was a secret after all. "Thanks Dinah. I honestly didn't really think about it. I have a line of credit at Flourish and Blotts so I can do things like this from time to time. Generally speaking most of my income goes to buying books anyway so paying you back shouldn't be too hard. I really try to limit myself on the amount of books I get when I go to a book store. So," she placed the book she had been looking at back on the shelf, "I'm done."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, clearly not believing her.

"Yes, I'm sure," she looked longingly at the book she had just put back.

He grabbed the book off the shelf and placed it on top of Lucy's pile, "I'll pay for that one. As long as that's okay with you, Dinah. I wouldn't want you to strain yourself financially just for this crazy lady."

"You have Muggle money?" Dinah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Snape snorted, "Figures."

"A small amount," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes and watching Snape, but not quite looking him in the eye, "You never know when you might need it."

Lucy looked up at the ceiling when a voice announced, "Dear Waterstone's shoppers. Please be advised that the store will be closing in fifteen minutes. If you have finished making your selections please take them to cashiers and finish your purchases. Thank you and please come again."

"Are you sure you're finished?" Sirius asked Lucy.

She blushed; he was giving her that 'I think you're weird but I love you anyway' look he tended to give her any time books were involved. "Yes. I'm sure. Fifteen minutes isn't really that much time anyway. That is, I'm done if everyone else is ready."

"Actually, there's a section I'd like to go visit, if you don't mind," Dinah said.

"Oh, that's no problem. You should have said something! I wouldn't have minded. Of course, maybe you did and I just didn't notice. I tend to go into my own little world when I'm book shopping. The building could be on fire and I probably wouldn't even notice unless the book I was holding was enflamed."

"You don't want to buy any of those strange picture books, do you?" Severus asked, ignoring Lucy.

Dinah smiled at him; "Why, yes, as a matter of fact I do want to buy one of those strange picture books. I also wanted to drop by the mystery section and see if my favorite author has released anything new."

"Picture books? What…oh you mean those magma things you showed me once. The ones with the characters who have big eyes and incredibly enormous boobs?"

Sirius's head popped up, "Boobs? Enormous ones?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That whole conversation and all you heard was boobs?"

"Well…"

"I swear you never got past the age of sixteen. Ignore him, Dinah."

"Um..." Dinah looked amused, "Yes, those books. Actually, there can be a lot of cultural, psychological, and sociological debate brought up about why so many Japanese comics insist upon making their female characters so busty... but that's neither here nor there," she grinned and led them to the magma section.

"I've thought about borrowing one or two of these and teaching them in my classes but I don't think the parents would appreciate it much. Though maybe there are some that aren't quite so….revealing."

"You can try children's manga," Dinah said. "They're usually better."

"Manga? You should have told me I was using the wrong word!" Lucy smiled, "You're probably right about the children's stuff. At this point though I should probably just wait until next year if I want to incorporate it into my syllabus."

Dinah grinned, "Sorry, I couldn't resist letting you call it magma for awhile. And yeah, you might want to wait until you know a little more about it before you teach it, too. I myself think I'll take this one," she grabbed a manga with something that looked like a mermaid on the cover. "Now to the mystery section!"

Once there Sirius looked at Lucy. "Are you sure you don't want one of these, too?"

Lucy shook her head, "I can't afford the entire store." She lifted the book he had placed in her arms earlier, "I _could_ have put this one back but you insisted on me having it. I do have some self control, you know."

Sirius shrugged, "You wanted it. I have no problem buying it for you."

"Just because I want something doesn't mean I should have it, but in this case I'm not going to argue too hard. Anyway if I'm nice and ask politely Dinah might be inclined to allow me to borrow a book or two after she's read them."

"Feel free," Dinah smiled, then pulled a paperback book from the shelf she had been perusing, piling it on top of the manga, "I think that's all for now. Let's check out, if you're ready."

As Lucy followed Dinah through the store along with the rest of them, Severus snatched the manga from Dinah and began to flip through it.

"Please, go ahead, take a look," Dinah said in a sarcastic tone.

"I'm just attempting to decipher the meaning of this," Severus ignored her tone, turning the book upside down to look at it from a different angle, "What kind of art warps the human figure like this?"

"Severus, you are_ not_ looking at the large breasts, too, are you?" Dinah exclaimed, looking appalled.

"As a matter of fact I was referring to the _eyes_," Severus gave her a look.

"Don't let him lie to you, Dinah. We're always looking at the boobs," Sirius said.

"Shut up!" Lucy smacked Sirius, trying to keep the men from going at it in the middle of a Muggle bookstore. "I'm sure Severus actually was talking about the eyes. He happens to be a bit of a gentleman, while you are definitely a pig."

"Dog, actually."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"You're right," Dinah smiled, walking up to Severus and politely snatching the book back from him, "He is a bit of a gentleman, isn't he?"

Severus cleared his throat and began walking faster. Dinah smiled and hurried to keep up with him, and it seemed to Lucy that she was standing as close as she could without actually touching him. She smiled. It seemed that Dinah truly was changing the professor. Slowly, to be sure, but changing him.


	6. Chapter 6

It was after ten o'clock in the evening when the group finally apparated back to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. They landed back in the kitchen where they had first begun.

Lucy took a look around the kitchen and smacked her forehead, "I forgot! I brought a popsicle with me to your house but it started to melt and I put in your…refrigerator, I think it's called. It should be okay till the next time you go to your home, I should think."

Dinah tried not to, but she couldn't help bursting into laughter. At Lucy's confused, almost hurt look, she managed to squeeze out, "I'm sorry! I'm not laughing _at _you, it's just I'm so not used to purebloods' reactions to Muggle society." She stopped talking as a fresh wave of laughter washed over her. A slight chuckle next to her from Severus only made her laugh more.

He shook his head. "You don't need to be quite this amused, Dinah."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said as she finally stopped laughing, hoping that her flush at him speaking her name a second time in one day wasn't too obvious. "It's just Lucy was so completely sincere about it." She turned back to Lucy and smiled, "It _will _be okay in there, but it definitely won't stay frozen. The refrigerator isn't cold enough for that. You should have put it behind the other, smaller door. That's the freezer."

Lucy's face was nearly as red as Dinah's. "I'm sorry. I can help you clean it up if you want," she sniffed and wiped at her eyes; "Sorry, it's not you. Long day, stressful, and the hormones are probably kicking in, you know."

Dinah's smile fell; "Oh, um, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you, I thought it was funny. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Er, but please don't worry, I don't think it will make too much of a mess. And, um… Severus and I don't have to stay if it's too stressful for you. Just say the word."

"No, no it's okay. I want you two here. I want you to stay. Really. I…it…just…"

Sirius hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear, "Relax. Breath."

She smiled, remembering she had said something similar to him earlier in the evening. "Sorry, minor childhood trauma, coupled with hormones that tend to go out of whack once a month…I'm fine now. Normally I tend to get a little bit snippy but apparently I'm going to be a crier this time. Now I feel like I ruined the really nice evening I think we were having. Is there something else you'd like to do tonight or something I could get you? A popsicle perhaps?" Lucy smiled, almost as if she were laughing at herself.

Dinah let herself laugh again, but she made sure she wasn't laughing too hysterically, "No, but thank you. If you don't mind I think I'd like to turn in. I don't know about you, Severus. The same?"

He nodded; his face flat again, "Perhaps it _is _time to call it a night." He sighed and turned back to Lucy, "Thank you for dinner."

"Oh, you're welcome. Don't worry about getting up bright and early for breakfast, either. We're not…well, he's not an early riser and generally I can be persuaded to stay in bed a bit longer than I'd like. Plus with this new stack of books I have I'll more than likely be awake. Just reading. Of course, if you're feeling really brave you can sneak past Walburga and make yourselves breakfast. I don't mind either way. Oh, and Dinah?" Lucy prompted, following the other pair towards the bedrooms, "Just let me know how much I owe and I'll get you either all of it or as much as I can anyway."

"All right. I have the receipt, so I'll calculate a reasonable exchange rate sometime while I'm here." They all headed up the stairs together, stopping at the second floor. "Good night, then," Dinah said as Sirius and Lucy stood on the first few steps to the third floor where their room was.

"Night," Lucy said. She squealed when Sirius picked her up and started walking up the stairs, "See you in the morning I guess," she called over his shoulder, laughing.

Dinah watched them with a slightly bewildered smile. She never knew what to expect with either of them. She turned and began walking down the hallway, stopping at her room. She hesitated a moment, then turned around to Severus; "Could I talk to you for a bit?"

Severus gave an almost imperceptible shrug, and remained expressionless, "If you wish."

She raised an eyebrow and nodded, opening the door so he could follow her into the room. She sat down on the bed and leaned back, looking up at his questioning gaze, "Well, that was unexpected," she sighed and shook her head, "It's happened a couple of times before. Lucy's great but I can never tell when she's going to have one of those random emotional episodes. I'm not very good at responding to them."

Severus just raised both eyebrows in response.

Dinah laughed, "Look who I'm talking to. You're not exactly one to give advice in such a matter." She sighed again, staring down at her hands, "I guess I'm just past that age now. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm this old… I wonder if I've wasted my life."

"Hm," the noise that escaped Severus was noncommittal, more like a simple acknowledgement that he'd heard what she'd just said than any kind of agreement or disagreement with her statement.

She looked up at him with a lopsided half-smile; "Not much for reassuring words, are you?"

"Sorry," he shrugged again, more obviously this time.

"It's fine," she laughed a little. "I was just thinking out loud anyway. Not really an important matter. After all, I'm doing what I love. I'm in a relationship… of sorts." She winced; "Sorry."

Severus sighed, coming to sit down next to her on the bed, but not especially close, "Don't apologize. I can't quite blame you for the statement. I'm sorry. It's just that…" he exhaled again and looked around at the room, "The last time I was in this house…"

Dinah moved her hand so it was placed over his. His hand twitched under hers for a moment, the beginnings of a flinch. But as usual he let his hand relax after the initial shock to his system had passed. He was still not used to this kind of physical affection, but he seemed to be opening up more and more every day. Still, she wasn't sure if he'd ever be completely open to her. If not, then their relationship might, eventually, have to come to an end.

The painful feeling that tightened her throat and chest every time this thought occurred came back to her, but she ignored it. The only thing she could do was live in the present. And right now, whether it was logical or not, and whether or not she fully understood her reasons, she wanted to stay with him. "I know. It's another reason I was hesitant about us coming here. Of course I never mentioned it to Lucy. And I was looking so forward to us spending a holiday together that I figured I could handle it…"

He sighed, shifted slightly, and brought an arm up around her shoulders with a light and hesitant touch, "I _am _sorry."

She flushed, desperately wanting more but not going to ask for it, "You're trying your best. I understand."

He frowned, his gaze shifting towards the door and then the ceiling, "I'm sure I can handle it. I only think we shouldn't go into _his_ room." He smirked, "Not that that should be a problem."

Dinah gave a little chuckle, allowing herself to lean forward and rest her head on his shoulder, "They are a rather boisterous couple, aren't they?"

He almost smiled, "Rather." He sighed, "Yes, as long as I don't go into that room…"

Dinah sighed and shifted her gaze to the floor, past their legs dangling over the edge of the bed, not quite touching each other. The memory was more vivid than she liked it to be. The last time he had been in Sirius's room, what she had seen in the pensieve. When he had ripped off the picture of Lily and the note she had written, keeping it with him, unsure of whether he'd survive the battles to come. It was the only time she had seen him cry.

That thought, that memory, always reminded her of how desperately he had loved Lily. How deep that connection was. What she herself could never be to him.

"Well," he gave her shoulder a hesitant squeeze and then stood up, "I should be heading to my own room now. Good night then."

"Good night," she said.

He headed to the door, stopped with his hand on the knob for what seemed like an eternity, and then turned to face her, almost looking guilty. "It's not you."

"I know. It's not me," she forced a smile, "It's her."

"I can't forget-"

"I don't expect you to," she cut in, hoping that this conversation didn't last long. "I understand. Don't worry about it," she hoped the trembling in her chest wasn't reaching her voice; "Good night."

He paused a long while, looking at her; then finally nodded and left the room with a final "Good night" response.

She smiled at the closed door for a few moments, until she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. And then another. With a little moan she turned and buried her face in the pillow, willing them to stop. Maybe her own emotions weren't as stable as she'd thought. But how could they be, after that exchange?

It was fine though. She'd made peace with the situation, at least for now. She had to keep telling herself that. Although somehow it didn't make it any less painful.

But as usual, the wave of sadness passed over and she was able to calm herself, put herself back in the stable place where she was just taking things one step at a time and not thinking too much about the future. Deep down she knew it was just a lie, a complicated cover-up, keeping her real worries and fears buried so deep that they were mostly inaccessible. But that didn't mean they were gone.

To console herself, as she found she did almost every night these days, she ran through her head over and over again the good things that had happened to them today. His light touch when they went downstairs for dinner, his comments about the potential progression of their relationship, his mild laughter at her quirks, his compliment of her Muggle clothing, the almost-kiss in her bedroom, the gentle conversation that had followed, and his arm around her shoulders just a moment ago.

Those thoughts were enough to let her sleep peacefully… for now.

Lucy squealed again as Sirius dumped her on the bed. "Careful," she cautioned, "Snape's room is right underneath us!"

Sirius laughed, "Well that's unfortunate. For him."

"I didn't plan on him actually using it! I thought him and Dinah would be sharing the room. That's why I put her room on the other side of the hall."

"Now," he said, sitting down on the bed next to her, "what was with that little scene earlier?"

"Nothing," she said, scooting away from him, "I told you minor childhood trauma. Let's just say my father is not a very forgiving man."

"He hit you?"

"No, no. He never hit me," she scooted farther away, clearly uncomfortable with this discussion. "It was Mum. She'd made a mistake and he never let her forget it."

"What could possibly be as bad as that? She didn't murder someone like I did," he stopped her from sliding off the bed and held her close.

"I wish you'd stop doing that. You're not a murderer and you know that."

"You do it, too," he kissed her cheek. "Now what did she do?"

"She got pregnant."

"Oh," he didn't really know what to say to that so he just hugged her. If things kept up in this fashion Snape was going to get a good night's sleep after all.

"He never wanted me and didn't make a secret of it. Mum always wanted me and that would have been enough if she hadn't been killed. It's a big part of the reason I don't talk to my father much. Anyway, um, Mum did something similar once, misplaced something without thinking. Needless to say the resulting argument upset me."

"Maybe you should explain that to Dinah. I think she feels really bad about making you cry."

"I suppose," she got up quietly and changed out of Dinah's Muggle clothes, placing them in a neat pile so she could remember to return them. Lying back down on the bed she turned to Sirius, "They look happy, don't they?"

Sirius shrugged, "As happy as they could be, I suppose. You know Snivellus..."

Lucy glared at him.

"What? He's not here."

"I don't care."

"Fine. Snape is never going go all the way with Dinah."

"You don't know that."

"I know he's carried a torch for Lily since they met. If he's carried it around this long that's not just going to go away."

Lucy rolled over, resting her head on his chest and looking him in the eye, "You know more about this than you're telling don't you?"

Sirius shrugged again, "Not really."

Lucy decided to let it go for now. It wasn't the first time they'd had a conversation similar to this and he had yet to tell her what he knew.

She was almost asleep when Sirius pulled her up so their heads were next to each other and whispered in her ear, "Just for the record, I will _always_ want you."


	7. Chapter 7

Dinah walked into the parlor to see Lucy putting up some Christmas decorations.

"Oh!" Lucy said, looking surprised to see Dinah. "Would you like to help me decorate? It's a bit late in the season I know, but better late than never I guess."

"I don't know…" Neither of the men was in the room and if they ran into each other there could be consequences.

"Sirius isn't here if that's what you're worried about. We got an owl early this morning inviting us to spend the day with the Lupins. They didn't know we had guests and I told Sirius to go ahead and go. Hopefully it will make things easier for you and Severus."

"Oh, well in that case, sure," Dinah smiled and knelt down next to a large box. "I hope you're not disappointed you didn't get to go?"

"I am a little bit to be honest, but they're coming over the same time the Weasleys will be here so I'll see them soon." She sighed; "Teddy's getting so big. I swear he's four sizes bigger every time I see him. Of course if I did go I'd never get this done and what kind of a Christmas would that be for Teddy?" Lucy pointed to the box Dinah had knelt next to, "Be careful with that one. I'm not sure what's in it. It was in the attic and labeled Christmas so I brought it down."

Dinah pulled aside one of the box flaps and peered inside. "Oh, wow, there's some really old stuff in here. She reached in and pulled out a small brown, crumpling Christmas tree. At Lucy's slight grimace she laughed, "Yeah I don't think we're going to be using this one anytime soon." She set the decaying tree aside and dug further into the box, pulling out a smaller box and reading the writing on the front: "Order of the Phoenix… it looks like this box is full of stuff used by the old Order!"

"We'll have to make sure to set that aside. We might want to let the members that are left go through it."

"Yeah, good idea. Look here, there's an ornament with Mad-Eye Moody's name on it," she held up a white ornament from the small box, and then dug in some more. She frowned when she pulled out a big, round, red one, "Lovely. Here's one that says Lily and James… in a heart, no less."

Lucy grimaced. "Oh, I see. I have no issues with James and Lily but I understand why it might not be a good idea to display that particular ornament. Maybe we shouldn't put that one up. At least not just yet. In fact it might be a good idea to wrap it up and give it to Harry for Christmas. He might like to have that."

Dinah smiled, "You're right. That's a great idea. A perfect place for their ornament to go," she smiled at the ornament, her bitterness at it washing away slightly. "Just do me a favor and make sure we hide it from Severus while it's here."

"Hide what from me?"  
"Eep!" Dinah jumped, only realizing that her outburst had sounded kind of ridiculous when she turned to see that Severus had come down the stairs and was eying her with a curious… that is, a curiously _suspicious _look. She sighed, "You have a knack for showing up just at the right time, don't you?"

He smirked, "So sorry about that. Now what is it you have to hide from me?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was your Christmas present?" At his characteristic raised eyebrow she shrugged, "Worth a shot, anyway. Well, I guess it doesn't matter," she frowned and held it up; "Here. We just found a box full of Christmas stuff from the old Order."

He took it and looked at it for a moment, his expression more unreadable than ever. When he seemed to be staring at it long enough for hell to freeze over, Lucy spoke.

"We were going to wrap it up and give it to Harry," she said.

"Hm," his typical noncommittal noise had deeper undertones this time. Maybe anger, maybe sadness, maybe both. Dinah still couldn't read him as well as she wished to. "Well, I assume Potter is the one who would appreciate it the most," Severus finally said, his tone cold. It was the tone he used when speaking to Gryffindor students. The tone Dinah liked the least.

"Dinah and I are trying to decorate the house. You can join us if you want."

He frowned, probably thinking that he was going to be forced to participate.

"But," Lucy continued, "you probably don't want to do that. Sirius is out for the day and I doubt he'll be back until after dinner so you don't have to worry about running into him if you'd rather just wander the house, or do whatever strikes your fancy."

"If you don't mind," he said, walking over and handing the ornament hesitantly, gently, to Lucy. Dinah somehow suspected that he had preferred to hand it back to Lucy instead of her. Not that she blamed him.

"I think I'm going to take a walk outside. Perhaps run some errands," he said when Lucy had put the ornament away. "I don't know when I'll be back."

Dinah nodded, the usual understanding and disappointment battling within her. Obviously he wanted to be alone for awhile. Perhaps that was for the best. "Okay. Don't be gone too long; I'm sure we'll be having lunch or dinner eventually."

He flashed a weak half-smile at her and left the room. Mrs. Black didn't seem bothered by his passing, because they heard no screaming before the sound of the front door shut behind him.

Dinah sighed and turned back to the box, "Well, that was interesting."

Lucy smiled, "That it was. He's still really hung up on Lily isn't he? I bet that makes the more…intimate aspects of your relationship difficult."

She forced a laugh, "What intimate aspects?"

"Oh, you know," Lucy's face was beginning to look like the heart ornament they had just been looking at, "hugging, kissing, sweeping you off your feet and whisking you away…and not to get into a territory you might not want to go but I think sex would have to be mentioned in that group too."

Dinah laughed more naturally, then quickly stopped herself for fear Lucy might think she was laughing at her like last night. "I was being sarcastic, but yes… those things. The first two are really the only ones we've shared. It's not that I don't understand his issues, but I wish there was a better way I could help him get over her. I don't know, maybe I'm fooling myself. Maybe there's no hope."

"I think there might be, especially if he's doing what I think he's doing." Lucy paused for a moment before looking over at Dinah and saying, "You don't have to be afraid of making me cry, you know. I made a mistake I shouldn't have made and when my mum would do something like that her and Dad would have a huge fight. It usually ended up in him yelling something about never wanting kids. He likes a perfect ordered life and I learned early on that I was not part of that. I guess I grew up trying to be perfect to make him want me…I don't know. Anyway don't worry about it, I can laugh at myself as well as anyone," she smiled reassuringly. "And to completely change the subject if you have any questions about 'intimate things' I'll be happy to try and answer them if I can."

Dinah paused a long time, trying to digest all of this, and then grinned; "Do you mind if I make fun of you a little bit by saying that I'm now not sure which of the three things you just talked about I should respond to first."

Lucy laughed, "No, not at all."

"Oh, good," she chuckled, "Well, anyway, thanks for telling me. I was really feeling bad about yesterday. I know what it's like to feel unwanted and out of place. Of course, I never really felt that way in the Muggle world, but my time at Hogwarts was hard. Not that I didn't enjoy it of course, but being so much older than everyone else wasn't fun and it kind of got in the way of any sort of friendships that might have formed."

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, for me it was better at school. Of course I did have family and a close friend or two and one semi-serious boyfriend who turned out to be a real ass."

"Really? I guess that's something else we have in common then. Which leads me to the third statement from your giant monologue," she grinned. "I appreciate offer, but there's probably not much you can do. I'm not inexperienced in intimacy; it's more that I'm inexperienced in Severus."

"All right, well the offer still stands if you ever feel the need. I can only help you so much with Severus himself and that's mostly from a student's perspective. Sirius knows some of what went on before but he won't tell me. That does bring up a question I have, though. How do you deal the old boyfriends issue? I mean Sirius does know I had boyfriends, but we've never really talked about it."

"Severus and I never really talked about it much," she admitted. "He knows about my one serious boyfriend. But in his eyes it's nothing compared to his tragic past with Lily. He doesn't say that, of course, but it's a feeling I get." She paused, "You know, I shouldn't say that exactly, that we have it in common, you might get the wrong impression. Dylan wasn't really an ass, it's more like we were just… fundamentally incompatible," she sighed, "It took me a long time to realize it though."

"Yeah, Nick Hill, you remember him from Slughorn's party? Well, he was really just an ass. After dating for 5 months I found out he was really only with me so I'd help him with his homework and because he'd bet one of his Slytherin friends he could get in my robes…unfortunately for him he was in Gryffindor and Bill and Charlie didn't take too kindly to him when they found out about it. I don't think Nick bothers Sirius too much anymore, though. I wasn't really serious about him," Lucy shrugged, "I was fourteen, what did I know? No, I think he's gonna hit the roof about my only other boyfriend though."

"Ooh, what other boyfriend is that?" Dinah grinned, "Sounds like there are some juicy details involved."

"Nothing too juicy really," Lucy gave a small smile. "Sirius is, after all, my one and only in those matters. You probably won't recognize his name and actually Sirius might not either seeing as he was in Azkaban at the time…His name is Gawain Robards. I was nineteen and he was my mentor…the Auror I studied under. He was thirty at the time," Lucy looked slightly embarrassed at this fact. "I heard he was appointed to the position of Head of the Auror Office a few years ago…"

"So you don't keep in touch, then? Did it not end well?"

"Um, no not really. That is we don't keep in touch. We more or less stopped dating when I finished training and was going out and doing assignments on my own, but neither one of us really said anything. We officially stopped seeing each other when I quit the Ministry. He was all about loyalty to the Ministry. Which was fine…until I stopped agreeing blindly with them." Lucy took a deep breath; "I've seen him a couple times since then. Both after Sirius was…well I don't know what else to call it but dead. Mostly just to cry on his shoulder but I doubt Sirius will be reasonable if that topic ever comes up. Of course even if I hadn't quit I don't think Gawain and I would still be together."

"If you feel that way, I don't think Sirius could be too upset. I mean, maybe at first, but…" Dinah shrugged, "Anyway, I know how it goes. I have no bad feelings for Dylan, and I have fond memories of some of our times together. But I haven't seen him in ages and honestly I'm not worried about if I ever see him again. I wouldn't be upset if I did, but I'm not going to be upset if I don't either. You know?"

"Yeah, I suppose I do. I think I just think that the student-mentor thing is going to freak him out. That and the age difference."

"But Sirius is quite a bit older than you as well. Or, I suppose, I guess it makes more of a difference when you're nineteen."

"Yes, but it's more then just physical age. Frankly Gawain could be an old stick-in-the-mud. I'm not completely kidding when I call Sirius childish. He is. Gawain never was. At the same time though, I think me being so much younger than him kinda weirds him out. At least when he actually stops and thinks about it, anyway." Lucy laughed, "Here we were supposed to be talking about you and Severus and we end up talking about me and Sirius."

Dinah laughed, "Well, I'm not especially surprised. Sirius may be childish but he makes infinitely more romantic sense than Severus does. By the way, I almost forgot - You said you thought that Severus was doing something?"

"Oh, right! I'm not sure how he'd feel about me telling you this but I talked to him about Christmas presents last night. I thought he might need help picking one out."

"You mean," she was pretty sure that she must have looked way too excited to Lucy, but she didn't care, "You think that's what he's doing right now? Buying me a present?"

Lucy smiled, "Well, I can't be certain. He didn't tell me his plans or anything. Actually I think he finds me rather annoying most times, but he did mention something about it being a good idea."

"Really?" now Dinah was aware that she was grinning like an idiot. But with all of the stressful situations happening yesterday and today with Severus, she had almost forgotten how lighthearted she could feel when things were going well for them. "Oh! I have to get him something! But… wow, that's the real kicker. What kind of a present do you buy for Professor Severus Snape?"

"Well, if it helps at all I got Sirius a wizard's chess set. The one that's here…bites. It bites hard and it bites everyone…I suppose I should have mentioned that earlier. Of course, I could always tell you what I told him. Think about what he likes, that's always a good place to start."

"What he likes… well, I don't know. He's not really much for hobbies. He likes to work, I suppose. Even though he teaches Defense against the Dark Arts now he still likes to mess around with potions. But it's not like anything of that sort would be new or exciting to him."

"Hmm that does present a problem. What about…no, no, not after I told him not to. Does he go for…no, he doesn't seem like the type. Maybe…no, not that either. Well, what about a cologne or something?"

Dinah frowned, "I don't know. I think he might find that insulting in some way. Besides," she blushed, "I kind of like his natural scent. Oh, and, for the record, all those rumors about him being dirty are _not _true. I happen to know for a fact that he showers regularly. His hair is greasy, but that's not his fault! It happens very quickly on its own… I guess it's a genetic thing or something."

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to imply he was dirty or anything. I never really thought much about his personal hygiene either. I pretty much figure as long as a person doesn't smell I couldn't care less how much they wash."

"No, I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just felt like I had to say so anyway, what with everything the students say about him and all. Not that he really cares what anybody says about him."

Lucy laughed, "I can understand. It's sort of like how people still tend to think Sirius is a murderer. That and I think I have a tendency to insult the man without meaning to. He can be difficult to talk to at times."

"Don't I know it," she grinned. "Well, maybe… I mean, he does like to read. Not Muggle books of course, but I often see him reading a potions book or a magic book or some other book in his office, even when it's not something we're researching. I could get him, I don't know, a gift certificate to Flourish and Blotts or something," she shrugged helplessly. "Not very personal, I know."

"I wouldn't say that. Especially if it's to a store I like to shop at. Let's me pick out something I'll like and use, while still showing that the person thought about me enough to know I'd shop at that store."

"Really?" Dinah smiled, "I guess it's a better idea than giving him nothing. Okay, I'll do that I guess. I'll never be able to think of anything else, anyway."

"I'd probably be doing the same thing if we didn't live together. It really forces you to get to know a person more than anything else, I think." She looked around the room; "Well, I think this room's done. Now do we move to the kitchen or what I like to call the 'family tree room'?"

"Either is fine," Dinah said, standing up, "Where should we put this other box for now?"

"Um, we could stick it in the bedroom, I guess. It's probably the place where it's least likely to get smashed."

She nodded; "You go and take it up, then, and I'll meet you in the kitchen." She hesitated to tell Lucy that she didn't want to go into the room, for fear of being reminded of the scene in the pensieve.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has been reading so far! Glad you're enjoying this short story!

* * *

Lucy disappeared for awhile before returning to the kitchen, wearing a rather worried look on her face. "Left one box up there and came back with another. This one seems to be marked, 'Christmas', 'kitchen', and 'Slytherin' so we'll see how this goes," she set the box on the table before asking, "Dinah, you haven't seen my ring by any chance, have you? It's a gold band with a blue topaz solitaire."

"No," Dinah admitted, "I'm sorry. Have you lost it? It's from Sirius, I assume? I'll definitely keep an eye out for it."

"No, it was my mother's, actually. I always wear it, except at night and when I shower. I just noticed I wasn't wearing it and it's not up on the nightstand where I usually put it. I guess I'll wait until the boys come back and if neither one of them has seen it I'll try casting _Accio_ for it."

Dinah nodded, "Now, let's see what on Earth a box labeled with 'Christmas', 'kitchen', and 'Slytherin' could have in it."

Lucy cautiously opened the box, "What the…" she reached inside as if she was afraid whatever was in there was going to bite her hand off. As she walked backwards more and more of the item was revealed. "I think it's a snake garland. What do you think?" The object was scaly, with red and green stripes, and bells hung intermittently along its length. There didn't seem to be a head, or at least one hadn't emerged from the box yet.

"I just hope it isn't alive," Dinah replied, trying to look like she was joking. But the sight of any kind of snake, in the presence of other people, if she accidentally… spoke to it, things could get ugly.

"I don't think it is…and there's a head. Oh, Dinah, I really don't think I can put this up. First of all it looks like some sort of sick joke, it's not very Christmassy, despite the colors and the bells, and it's bound to scare any kids that come over."

Dinah couldn't help but laugh; "Well, I think it's kind of cute now that I know it's not alive. But… you're right about the scaring kids thing. And I do admit I've never heard of a Christmas snake before. So is Sirius like… the _only person_ in his entire family to _not _be in Slytherin?"

"Yeah, I guess that's something we have in common. He's the only Gryffindor in a house full of Slytherins and I'm the only Ravenclaw in a house full of Gryffindors. A lot of people assume my father was in Ravenclaw because of how studious he is but he was in Gryffindor."

"Hmm, it's nice to know that Gryffindor isn't full of only perfect people," Dinah grinned. "Of course, Wortham and Lee attest to that, too. They treat Speasy the same way that James and Sirius used to treat Severus. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to insult Sirius, it's just… I have a hard time with the way he used to behave. And from what I've seen… that is, heard from Severus, I fail to understand what Lily ever saw in James. Not that I'm complaining that she chose him. I mean, I'm sad that she hurt Severus but I'm glad he's available for me – oh no, I'm babbling! What have you done to me?" Dinah laughed.

Lucy covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing too hard. "Mum did teach me to share with my friends," she said before going back to some of Dinah's previous comments. "I really can't say too much about the way he treated Severus. Mostly because I don't know much about it. It's rather a bone of contention between us. He tells me he doesn't want me to know about those things because, and I quote, 'I don't regret the majority of what I did, because I honestly think he deserved most of that, but I did things I'm not proud of and I don't want you to see that part of me'. I don't think he understands what unconditional love is. Of course his mother's love was very conditional as I understand it so I suppose that's to be expected."

"Hmm," Dinah sighed. "At least he regrets something. It was probably that thing. I had given him the benefit of the doubt for it, for your sake, and because he _was _young at the time, but I confess I'm glad he at least regrets that. On the other hand, I wish he regretted more, because I _don't _think Severus deserved most of that. I could be biased, though," she shrugged.

"Part of me wants to ask you what you know and the more sensible part of me thinks I should wait for Sirius to tell me," she smiled. "Love is a funny thing, ready and willing to forgive anything. At least anything I've come across so far. Sirius just doesn't quite believe that yet, I guess." She turned away from the box she was stuffing the snake back into, "Tell me Dinah, do you love Severus?"

Dinah paused for a long time. "I might," she finally admitted, "I hesitate to say I do because I'm sure he doesn't feel the same way about me. Coping mechanism, I guess."

Lucy nodded, "I know how that is. Right up until the moment Charlie told me Sirius had been killed, I had myself convinced that I wasn't in love with him, that we'd have a good time together but that was it because he couldn't possibly love me. That loving him in such a short time was crazy so I must not love him because I wasn't crazy I was a very logical person. Then he died, and my world stopped. Literally. I just sat on Charlie's couch for two days, not moving, not anything. Just existing. Then Aunt Molly got there and I couldn't stop crying."

Dinah shuddered, "I'm sorry. I can't imagine. If I had been involved with Severus when he was… killed… And in such awful circumstances, too…" she sighed. "On a lighter note, I see how you feel about being a logical person. If I do love Severus I don't mind telling you that I have no idea _why_." She laughed. "I mean, I can come up with reasons why I _like _him, but not why I should love him."

"And I don't mind telling you I have no idea why either. Why I love Sirius, that is. Probably has something to do with the way he looks at me. How when he found out my father never wanted me, he waited until I was almost asleep and then whispered in my ear, 'Just for the record, I will always want you'. The way he's probably going to go all out for Christmas because of how royally he screwed up my birthday…which hasn't even happened yet by the way," her smile seemed to say she almost didn't mind that he had done whatever it was to screw up her birthday.

Dinah smiled, "I guess it's normal then. When you say that, Sirius sounds like a real sweetheart. You know, maybe both him and Severus can change. Maybe they could even, someday, get along. Not be friends, but have some kind of respect for each other? I don't know. It's a long shot, and it would take a long time. But I think it's possible. By the way, how does somebody screw up a birthday before it happens?"

"He actually bought, wrapped, and gave me a wand case, which I didn't want, need, or have a use for, a full four months before my birthday occurred. My birthday's in January in case I didn't already tell you that. And as for your earlier comments I hope they can at least be left in a room together without fear of them killing each other. Because otherwise you and I hanging out away from Hogwarts will probably end up becoming a thing of the past."

"Yeah," Dinah frowned, then shrugged and laughed, "Well, here's to hoping we can get them to tolerate each other eventually. And, well here's hoping Sirius can start to remember your birthday. It never goes over well when significant others forget important dates."

Lucy joined in Dinah's laughter, "No, it doesn't," she peered into the box again. "Okay everything in here seems to be snake-themed…I don't think Sirius will mind if we put this one back in the attic. Although…" she reached into the box and pulled something out, "It seems we have some mistletoe with a snake ornament hanging from it. I think we can use this. It's actually kind of pretty."

"It's cute," Dinah smiled. "The snake actually fits with mistletoe. The whole nature theme and everything. Honestly," she hesitated but finally decided it would be safe to make her point; "I think snakes get an unnecessarily bad reputation among wizards. Because of the whole 'lots-of-Slytherins-turning-bad' thing."

Lucy nodded, "Not just snakes, Slytherins too, I think. Truthfully I've never really been enamored of either. I mean I don't mind snakes in general but I don't really want them slithering around the house…if that makes sense. I actually like some of these snake sculptures and things around the house but I think the Blacks went a bit overboard. As for Slytherins…well I've had a few less-than-pleasant run-ins with a few of them."

"Slytherins too," Dinah agreed. "But the problem is that as a general rule the ones that draw attention to themselves are the ones that become Death Eaters, and they end up defining the whole house. There are decent Slytherins... Professor Slughorn, for example. The only bad thing he did was, as I understand it, a mistake he's been regretting his entire life. And Severus... he's not a bad person. His values may be warped, but he's _not _a bad person."

"It's that way with a lot of things, a few bad apples ruining the entire bunch. I think some, like Professor Snape, are fairly decent people who've made bad decisions and it's the consequences of those decisions that get the focus and not the reasons surrounding the decisions. I don't know Professor Slughorn all that well. When he actually shows up to staff events he has a tendency to name-drop and I can never get a word in edgewise. I find him rather annoying," Lucy climbed on a chair to hang the mistletoe in the middle of an archway in the kitchen. She paused to regard the object thoughtfully; "This isn't going to make things awkward for you, is it? I hope not. Mistletoe has been rather…good to me," she said, seeming to hint at something.

"I'm not going to go stand under it and stare pointedly at Severus until he comes over and kisses me, if that's what you mean," Dinah laughed. "No, it won't bother me. Please put it up. Likely both Severus and I will ignore its intended purpose. Although..." she blushed, remembering their conversation at her house yesterday.

Lucy giggled, climbing back down off the chair, "You do realize that as much as you two will be ignoring it, Sirius and I will probably be making good use of it. Did I ever tell you about the first time Sirius and I kissed?"

She shook her head, "No. Was that before or after his death?"

"Before," Lucy leaned against the wall. "The Christmas before. Right here," she pointed down at the floor, "or more accurately right there," she pointed to the spot underneath the mistletoe. "Uncle Arthur had been attacked and we were having Christmas here to be close to St. Mungo's. That and it helped keep Sirius distracted from wanting to leave the house. Someone had decorated a bit. I don't know where they got the decorations because none of the stuff is here. We got stuck under the mistletoe that was there. Everyone kind of stopped and stared. Then he leaned down and kissed me. It was soft and gentle and then I was up against the wall," she patted the wall she was leaning against. "I don't think you could have gotten a piece of parchment between us. Things escalated quickly. Tongues were involved, not that you needed or wanted to know that. Someone coughed and he stepped back. Breathing was not an option. It's a good thing the wall was behind me because I'm sure I would have fallen on my butt otherwise. His response was to clear his throat, say something like 'Well, then' and walk over to the table to sit down to dinner. I don't think he expected it to be quite like that either."

"Wow," Dinah shook her head. "Are you sure you aren't _living _in a romance novel? Severus and I have kissed exactly twice and neither time was there tongue involved. Yesterday, though, before you so rudely interrupted me," she grinned, "Anyway, he'd never looked at me in such an intense way before. I can only imagine he was about to kiss me. And then," she blushed, "after we went downstairs and before you two followed, I think it was probably because I was initially behaving shy and awkward after the situation that he felt like he could say anything at all, but he actually apologized to me, took my hand and told me he was sure another opportunity would present itself!"

"It does feel like I'm living in a romance novel sometimes. Of course if we had been the lead couple in such a novel the sex would have been better the first time and painless on my end. Not that it wasn't…enjoyable," Lucy waved her hand around; "Never mind."

Dinah blinked. Lucy did have a knack for too-much-information sometimes. "Oh, so then you were a virgin before Sirius?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes. It might be a bit old-fashioned of me but waiting was important to me. Actually I wanted to wait until I was married, but, well we know how that turned out. I don't regret it. And…I'm sharing too much. You can tell me to shut up when I start doing that, you know. I guess I'm just used to being that way with Tonks, and vice-versa, and I tend to think of you as just as good a friend as she is."

"Oh," Dinah smiled, "Thanks. It doesn't really _bother _me; it's just sort of amusing. I've never been much for sharing that kind of intimate detail, myself, but it's just a personal thing. I don't mind hearing it, for the most part. I know how you feel about the virgin thing. I never really felt like I needed to wait until marriage, but I wanted to be in a serious, committed one-on-one relationship. It's why Dylan is the only man I've ever slept with. And we had been dating for a long time before we did."

"Sirius and I weren't technically dating all that long before we did the deed so to speak but he was dead for two years and we did have intentions of talking about it before he was killed. Though I suppose it would have been rather hard to date him when he couldn't leave the house." She reached into the box for another decoration, "Another dead tree? This is about the fifth one I've found. Honestly if it's going to die why bother packing it away for next year?"

Dinah grinned, "Maybe the Blacks liked dead trees."

Lucy grinned, "Maybe. I'm making an executive decision and getting rid of them. They're starting to rot and there's no point having them around taking up space." She threw it at the pile of wood next to the fireplace, "It might as well make itself useful. Are you hungry? We could take a break and eat before I show you my favorite part of the house. It's already all decorated and it's also where I had Sirius set up the live tree."

"I am getting pretty hungry," Dinah nodded and stood up. "Any lunch plans or would you like me to whip something up since you did dinner last night?"

"I didn't have any plans but you don't have to feel like you should make lunch just because I made dinner last night. You are our guests after all. Though if you insist I won't refuse," Lucy smiled.

"Just thought I'd offer. I don't really know what you have. Anything you're particularly craving? We could both help out, make it go faster."

"That sounds good. Though to be honest we don't have a wide variety. Neither one of us are big on grocery shopping."

Dinah laughed, "I am. Severus always teases me about my enthusiasm for food."

"Like last night? That's nice. Actually that probably sounds weird but teasing can be fun in the right context. Sirius loves to tease me about the amount of time I spend with my books."

"I know. I actually love it when Severus teases me about that. Anything that amuses him, really, I like. In those moments he reveals that he's human. I don't know; maybe I sometimes act overly silly on purpose... semi-consciously... to get a reaction out of him. I never really thought about it."

Lucy opened the cupboards and started looking around, "Hmmm. Love does change a person. I used to be more reserved, you know with the innuendos and such. Maybe that's why Gawain and I never really got anywhere. Clearly that is no longer the case. Sometimes I just pretend to read a book in bed in order to get him to tease me."

"I think Sirius is probably just more of the type to inspire such behavior. He seems to enjoy it. Severus is more of the reserved type. And from what you've told me it sounds like Gawain sort of was too. Although I'm sure not quite as brooding."

"Definitely not as brooding as Severus. No offense but I've yet to come across someone who is worse than him in that respect." She pulled a couple jars out of the cupboards, "How do you feel about peanut butter and jelly?"

"That sounds fine," Dinah smiled, politely covering up the fact that peanut butter had never been her number one meal choice. She liked it well enough, "And something salty on the side? Crisps or some such? If you don't have any I would be happy to apparate home and bring some over."

"Salty? Let's see what we've got…" she rummaged through the kitchen some more, "Well we have these," she held up a jar of pickles and a bag of tortilla crisps. "We've got a big bunch of grapes too but those aren't salty. Personally I think crisps and/or grapes would go better with the sandwiches than tortilla crisps and pickles but it's up to you."

"Let's compromise and go with the tortilla crisps and grapes," Dinah grinned. "Sounds good to me. What can I do to help?"

"Do you want to assemble or set the table? There's not a whole lot else to do other than that. Dishes are over there," she waved her wand and a cupboard door opened, "Glasses are in there, too. Oh! What would you like to drink? We have water, cider, butterbeer, and pumpkin juice."

"I'll have cider, I think, thanks. And I'll set the table, too," Dinah set places for herself and Lucy and soon they were eating their lunch. Dinah had to admit that the grapes and the peanut butter went well together, and the tortilla crisps added a pleasantly salty crunch. Turned out peanut butter was a pretty good idea after all. After they had put the dishes away Lucy led Dinah to her favorite room in the house.


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy's heart thumped standing outside the door to the library. It was her favorite room in the house and she had gone a bit overboard on the decorations. She'd even made it snow lightly in the room. "Well here it is. I should warn you I've been slowly going through the stuff in this room so there are a few boxes lying around but they're mostly shoved out of the way." She turned the doorknob and allowed Dinah to enter ahead of her.

"Wow!" Dinah, wide-eyed, surveyed the room from top to bottom. "It's beautiful. You really put a lot of effort into this."

"Thanks! It's where I spend a lot of my time so I figured I could decorate it as much as I liked. There are even presents for Teddy under the tree already."

"That's great," Dinah stepped forward and fingered the needles on the tree, her gaze shifting to the presents below. She smiled, "Not just Teddy, huh?"

"No, not just Teddy," she grinned back at Dinah, "Some for the rest of the Lupin clan, the Weasleys, Hermione, and you and Severus. Sirius doesn't know about the one for Severus. He'd probably flip. The only presents that aren't down here are for George and Fred, because they peek. Oh, and one of Sirius's presents is upstairs, but that's not really something everyone would want to see."

"Well I won't pry too much," Dinah grinned, a different thought crossing her mind, "So you at least managed to decide on a gift for Severus? What did you end up going with? Or can't you tell me?"

"Oh, I can tell you. I don't think you'll tell him and it's not as if I expect him to be terribly impressed anyway, maybe slightly surprised, but not impressed. It's one of four copies I found in the family library - mine, not Sirius's - of a book written by Elladora Ketteridge on the many and varied uses of gillyweed. It's dreadfully boring I think, but it is signed by the author, and it sort of seemed like something he'd be interested in."

"Wow!" Dinah laughed, "My gift certificate can't compete with that."

Lucy shrugged, "It's nothing really. I'm sure he'll like your present more, after all, I'm not the one almost kissing him. Elladora Ketteridge is pretty much the only person in my family to have become well-known and that's just because she ate a weed one day. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. It's just…" she frowned down at the presents, "You can tell me I'm crazy if you want, but would this bother you? There are six presents for Sirius under this tree and one he's _really_ going to like upstairs. He knows this, well not about the upstairs one but he knows the others are here. He has three under here for me and none of them are sparkly and pretty. Unless he's doing that stupid box inside a box thing."

"I'm not sure," Dinah mused, kneeling down in front of the three presents. She experimentally lifted one up and shook it, "It sounds generic enough."

Lucy knelt down next to Dinah and poked at two of the presents, "These two are large and soft. I'm not as materialistic as I might be sounding at the moment, you know," she squirmed around on her knees. "It's just that I want to know what's in them."

Dinah laughed, "I think it's probably human nature to judge books by covers - or in this case, presents. Especially when they come from a significant other. I don't really have that problem since I don't really expect much out of Severus in the first place. It's a great way to not be disappointed."

"I suppose you're right. I guess I can comfort myself with the fact that they can't be much worse than receiving a birthday present I neither wanted nor needed on a day that was nowhere near my birthday," she smiled and stood, "That and he's getting at least one of his presents tonight so I should be getting one of those in return. I figured we'd give you guys your presents tonight so you can have them before you have to leave. If you planned to leave soon, that is. Don't get me wrong I'm not kicking you out or anything. I've loved having you here. I just wasn't sure what you guys were planning and we sort of left it open-ended…not that I'm pushing for you to set a departure date either." Lucy smiled; she was starting to babble again and she knew it.

Dinah laughed, "I'm not sure how long we're planning to stay either. Well, when are your relatives coming?"

"Oh, not until the 22nd. They're going to stay through until the younger ones have to return to Hogwarts. Sirius and I will probably go up to Hogsmeade a couple days before. Nothing's written in stone though. Truthfully, I don't mind if you want to stay while the family's here but I don't think Severus will enjoy the experience."

Dinah shook her head vigorously, "No. He doesn't want to go anywhere near Harry Potter if he can help it. It was difficult enough for him when we met with Harry and Dumbledore in school a few weeks ago. Not that he hates him... not quite, anymore. And he knows that Harry understands him more now, but it's just so awkward for them to be in the same place."

"I understand…I think. It'd probably be too much time with Sirius, anyway. And add Remus on top of that…excuse me a moment," she went quickly to the door and shut it firmly. A soft scratching could be heard coming from the other side; "No, you're not coming in. You'll just climb the tree and break the bulbs." Lucy turned back to Dinah, "Sorry, I'm not shutting us in here but if Dora comes in she'll get up the tree and I'll have a devil of a time getting her out."

"I know how that goes," Dinah smiled. "Godric does the same thing. Well, I'll talk to Severus today and let you know when he wants to leave. I'm flexible but I'm sure he has some kind of an opinion."

Lucy snorted, "Sirius gets no opinion in this. He's already threatened to turn into Snuffles for the duration. It'd serve him right if you two decided to stay until just before the family showed up. He can be so unreasonable about things, I swear."

Dinah laughed, "Well, we'll see. I'd love to stay, but I don't know about Severus. Although I must say I'm really pleased. He's been extremely polite and even somewhat sociable on this visit. At least with you."

"I'd agree. Though Sirius hasn't exactly made it easy for him to be social. Neither one of them has been as bad as I thought they might be."

"Which is good because I'm sure we can both imagine some really horrible scenarios," Dinah laughed.

"Oh, yes I have quite the imagination. Mostly it ended up with a few deaths and a giant hole where this house used to be." Lucy sat down heavily on one of the couches, "Can I ask you a question about a couple students? I don't mean to change the subject so abruptly or bring up work when we've been having such a good time but this has been bugging me for awhile now."

"Sure. Which students?"

"Porter Lee and Andrew Speasy. You mentioned them earlier. From what I understand there are others involved but I only have those two in my class."

"Oh," Dinah's face fell and she sighed. It seemed she was fully aware of the issues involved between those two children. "Porter's the more loudmouthed of the two, but his friend John Wortham is actually the leader. All three are in my first class of the week, of all the convenient times."

"Lovely," Lucy said sarcastically. "I just worry about Andrew. I can't figure out how to get through to him. I don't mean in class really, he actually does fairly well there. He's just so angry all the time and I want to fix him. I want him to understand that being like that won't bring him anything good. Not that Porter's not an issue too. I just…anger can be so destructive, being idiotically cocky can get you beat up but those kids are probably too cocky to care."

Dinah nodded. "Severus has been trying. He sees a lot of himself in Andrew, to be honest. He doesn't want to see the boy go the wrong way, but it's hard. I'm sure you don't have him in any of your classes, but Joseph Cantrell has really got his claws into Andrew. I think that's making it a lot harder for any of us to get through to him."

Lucy leaned her head to one side, considering. "I don't have Joseph in my class no, but I have heard of the Cantrells .His family used to be Death Eaters if I'm not mistaken. I think they're also related to the Malfoys somehow, but that's not surprising; to be pureblood is to be related to all other purebloods, it seems. That tends to happen after a few hundred years of selective breeding, I suppose. Which means I'm probably related to him somehow…Sirius, too. If you look hard enough at our family trees Sirius and I are related distantly, but I try not to think about that too much."

Dinah smiled, "That would be disturbing. You learn a lot about the various genetic effects of inbreeding when you study anthropology. But I just wish there was a way to get through to the purebloods about that sort of thing. Well, not all purebloods," she quickly added, "Just some."

"Oh, I don't mind. I've never really cared much for the categorizing that goes on. Neither does Sirius really but I think that's more because his parents were so into being pureblood that he's sort of repelled by the idea. As far as my family goes there are half-bloods and Muggle-borns in the family tree and we don't deny it so I'm not sure if we could really be called pureblood. To me it's really more of a term that others use to categorize me and something I use mostly out of habit, not because I actually care about it."

She nodded, "Makes sense. Well," she stood up from the floor, "If I stay in here longer I'll be inclined to snoop around at my gifts. So we should probably..."

"Go stare at the house-elf heads?" Lucy said, joking.

Dinah laughed, "No thank you, those are rather gross. Actually, I wasn't sure what I was going to say. I don't want to imply that I'm bored here because I'm not. I just didn't know if you wanted to do anything else right now?"

Lucy shrugged, "I don't particularly like them either. I need to get rid of them but I haven't figured out what to _do_ with them. Anyway I didn't have anything planned really. We could go out somewhere if you wanted," she started wringing her hands. "I just prefer to stay here when Sirius is out. I think it has something to do with me not being here when the battle at the Ministry happened. I was supposed to be here…I've talked about it with both Sirius and Dumbledore though and I know I couldn't have stopped him from leaving. I'm working on my separation issues, though. You're lucky you didn't have to go through that with Severus. I mean he died too, but you guys weren't together then…"

"That always confuses me," Dinah said softly. "I mean, it's horrible to say I'm glad I wasn't with him then. Because it sounds like I don't want to be with him or something. I honestly wish I could have met him much sooner than this... but I would hate to have lived through thinking he was dead."

"I don't think it's horrible to say that, but then I know what it could have been like. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I can remember sitting down on Charlie's couch and just staring. I didn't want to start crying because I didn't think I'd ever stop."

Dinah bit her lip, looking disturbed at the thought, and was about to respond when the door clicked open and Severus stuck his head in, "Dinah?"

Dinah eyes widened and she stood up, looking relieved at his speaking of her name. Lucy remembered Dinah confessing just yesterday that Severus didn't use her name as often as, perhaps, she would like him to, so her reaction made some sense.

Severus had paused after stepping further into the room. As his head scanned the decorations and falling snow, he looked more baffled than anything else. But his attention shifted as Dinah exclaimed "Severus!" and rushed into his arms.

Lucy couldn't hide her own surprised expression as Severus glanced down at Dinah, his arms moving to hover over her without quite touching her. He looked more confused than anything.

Finally, he lightly touched her shoulder and said in an awkward tone, "I see you finished decorating the front room."

Dinah lifted her head and smiled, "Yeah. Did you have a nice walk?"

He nodded, taking a step back to increase the distance between them, but he was almost smiling at her, "As nice as walks generally go." He glanced at Lucy, "Your - er, Sirius isn't back yet?" He grimaced when he spoke her boyfriend's name, but he managed to get it out, which was probably a plus.

She shook her head, "No, not yet. I don't really expect him back until dinnertime, though. Tonks can't cook and Remus, while he can cook, tends to like things a bit on the rare side. By the way have you happened to notice a ring lying about somewhere? It's a gold band with a single blue topaz. It was my mother's and I seem to have misplaced it."

Severus shook his head. "No, I've seen nothing."

Lucy sighed, "Thanks anyway. I…" she wasn't really sure what to say, she felt a little weird watching them hug, "I'm just going to go…find something to do. Unless you need me for something."

"Oh..." Dinah flushed and shot a glance at Severus. He had stepped further away from her, but he gave her an almost imperceptible nod. Her eyes widened some more and she hurriedly turned back to Lucy, "No, nothing. I think I'll just go upstairs and... organize my clothes. Severus, will you help?"

He shrugged and turned on his heel, leaving the room, Dinah hurrying after him.

Lucy laughed to herself. Organize her clothes indeed. That sounded like something her or Sirius would have said if…if they were in the company of others and wanted to be alone for awhile. Oh well, perhaps something good would come out of this. She shrugged, closing the door. She grabbed a book at random and settled on the couch to read, peeking at the presents and promising herself she would leave them alone.


	10. Chapter 10

Dinah was sure the butterflies fluttering in her chest would have caused her to levitate and float around by the time she opened the door to the bedroom she was using. Somewhere on the trip up her excitement had gotten the better of her and she had ended up in front of Severus rather than behind him, so she entered first.

Severus closed the door behind them, moving rather slowly. Dinah sat on the bed and watched him, making sure her breathing didn't get too fast. No words had been exchanged between them but she was almost certain his tiny nod had meant that that 'another opportunity' had presented itself. She didn't know what was going to happen, but that was almost the best part about it. The anticipation.

She heard him exhale, more loudly than usual, and then he turned to face her, a mildly amused expression on his face; "You certainly are anxious to organize those clothes of yours, aren't you?"

Dinah felt her face flush. "Well, organization is something that I enjoy. You've seen my office."

"I have," he came over to stand in front of her. "I admit I've never seen quite so many file folders with so many interesting labels before."

"I like to know where things are." She knew she couldn't rush him, so she didn't mind the distracted conversation. It was almost fun.

The corners of his mouth turned up in the hint of a smile, "As I said... yesterday... you truly are an interesting person. Dinah."

He had spoken her name twice in the last five minutes. And this time he made it _very_ clear that it had been on purpose. She found herself standing up from the bed, taking a step closer to him. "I'm... so glad I amuse you."

"You do," his smile was complete and her heart nearly stopped. Every time she saw him truly smile that was what happened. It wasn't often, but it was wonderful. He tilted her chin up to face him and his face came closer. It was like déjà vu, a completely identical move to what had happened yesterday. Except this time his lips came down upon hers.

_Kiss Number Three_, Dinah's thoughts landed on that number for a split second before all thoughts of organization flew from her mind. Unlike their first kiss – a quick peck – or even their second kiss that had lingered for a few seconds, this kiss showed no sign of stopping. His fingers trailed from her chin and found their way to the side of her face, spreading so that some went into her hair and others behind her neck, pulling her head closer to his as his lips parted. She let her arms slide around his waist and pulled herself closer as their tongues began to move together. This was like the first kiss Lucy had described. This was like the kisses Dinah had shared with Dylan, so long ago. But this was better. So much better.

She moaned a bit and clutched him more tightly as his kisses became more urgent. She felt his body responding beneath her, and hers reciprocated. It was amazing, really, that Severus had gone on this long being a virgin just because of his undying love for Lily. But maybe now... did she dare hope that he would be willing to open to her? She had been so sure it would never happen, or at least not anytime soon, but was it happening now? At the moment she knew that if he wanted it to she would be essentially incapable of saying no.

"Severus," she breathed, when he pulled back long enough for her to get some air, "Sev..." but his next kiss cut her off before she could finish saying his name a second time. And then she felt his grip weakening and she realized what the cut-off had made her say.

"No, Lily!" Before she had a chance to think his weakened grip turned into a forceful shove as he pushed her away and stepped back, everything screeching to a halt. She didn't know what to say so she just stared as he shook his head and looked around the room, not meeting her eyes.

She felt tears springing to them. "Severus, I-"

"It's not you," he held his hand up, stopping her, but still refused to meet her gaze.

"But- but it _is _me," she whispered, "I could never be- I mean I'm not... enough..."

He looked up as they both heard footsteps in the room above them. In that room. Lucy must have gone up for something. Severus winced and shook his head again, "It's this place. I can't be here anymore. I have to go home."

"Go – go home? But-"

"I'll come back," he cut her off. "Tomorrow. But I need to get away tonight. Need to... think. Tell Lucy I'm sorry." He turned his back to her and apparated away without another word.

Dinah just stared for a long time, her throat so tight she could barely breathe. But she clenched her teeth and forced herself not to cry. She should have expected this, she told herself over and over in her head. It had been inevitable. No reason to be disappointed.

After all, she had gotten more out of him than she ever expected to. Shouldn't that be enough... for now?

She swiped at the tears forming in her eyes before they could fall. No. It wasn't enough. Selfish as she was, it wasn't enough. Perhaps it was time to seriously think about whether this relationship could go anywhere, like she'd been talking about to Lucy. Maybe it would be better to just... break it off.

She couldn't handle that thought right now, so she took a few deep breaths, pulling herself together. She left the room and headed down to the kitchen, snatching the bag of tortilla crisps they had used for lunch and munching on them without thinking. By the time Lucy came downstairs the bag was nearly empty.

"Oh, there you are," Dinah's face must have showed something, because Lucy's became concerned, "Is everything okay?"

"Um," Dinah forced a smile, "Sure. I..." she held up the bag, "I'm sorry. I ate all your crisps..."

"That's okay, it's one less thing we have which is one step closer to Sirius going shopping." She smiled, "I know I said we don't like grocery shopping, but it usually turns into a battle of how little food we can have before one of us gives in and goes to the store."

She chuckled, and then turned to stare at the table, "Severus left."

"Left? Like left left? What happened? Everything seemed fine when you guys went upstairs to…organize your clothes."

"He'll be back tomorrow," Dinah said, fighting back tears again, "Actually it's probably better this way. You won't have to worry about him and Sirius getting on each others nerves or anything for awhile. Although I guess it means you'll have to give us our presents tomorrow instead of tonight..." She knew she was rambling. But she was perfectly happy to wait for Lucy to ask more questions and answer them slowly. That way she wouldn't have to explain it all at once.

"I'm not worried about the presents," she said quietly, sitting down next to Dinah and calling the box of tissues over to them.

"I'm fine," Dinah waved the tissues away, and then thought better of it and snatched two, dabbing at her eyes before it could go any further. Then she growled and tossed the tissue aside, fighting with herself. "Really, I'm fine!" she exclaimed, half to the discarded tissue and half to Lucy. She sighed and turned back to her friend, "It's not that big of a deal, anyway. After all, he's at least coming back tomorrow. But maybe... maybe we shouldn't stay any more nights after that. Unless you mind me hanging around here tonight by myself. I mean, you probably don't want- I'm fine, curse you!" she turned and yelled at the tissue again.

"We don't mind having you here. You shouldn't be alone right now. I mean…I hate to keep bringing it back to me but that first night Charlie refused to leave me alone. Actually he didn't leave me until Aunt Molly got there and then she wouldn't leave me. I think my zombie-like state really unnerved her. Anyway, it's not like I would have done anything harmful but it was still good that I wasn't alone. It helped."

Dinah sighed and turned to smile at Lucy. "Thank you. I appreciate it. Really, it's just the usual stuff. It started out great, but he got reminded of Lily and well..." she shrugged helplessly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure it's not easy for him being here in this house…the Potters were such a presence in Sirius's life and…I don't really know what else to say."

"It's all right," Dinah stood and took the half bag of crisps back to the counter where she'd found it. "Let's just forget about it for awhile. If I think about it I'll be forced to consider whether or not I should... break up with him or something," she finished in a whisper, "Do you think I should?"

"Well, I don't know. I broke up with Nick because, well, because he wanted me to do his homework and bet his friends he'd sleep with me. Gawain broke up with me because he disagreed with my ideas about the Ministry. I guess it comes down to whether or not you think you can handle his…issues."

Dinah sighed again and came back to sit at the table, "I thought I could up until now. I guess it's because the moment we shared was so intimate and I wasn't..." she felt her face flush, "done when he broke it off. Maybe it's just hormones talking and not my brain or even my heart."

Lucy laughed, "Sorry. It's just…it very well could be hormones. Beginning something and then…not getting there can be really frustrating. Though the one time the Lupins came for a surprise visit was a bit dampening. Luckily we were still clothed. Anyway, I think hormones can really screw up your brain and your heart too. I mean think about it; when we're happy we're far more likely to want to…you know then when we're angry."

She nodded, "Perhaps. And maybe I'm overthinking this. It's just that logically I feel like a third party observer would say something like 'if he's clearly never going to get over her you should just break up with him because all he's going to do is keep hurting you'. I feel like if I don't listen to the obvious advice then I'm being immature and unreasonably attached to something that will never go anywhere. But," her gaze turned hopeful, "He _has _changed, hasn't he? I mean he did want to kiss me at first. And he's much more polite and sociable now. I mean, wouldn't it be cruel to just give up on him? I want him to find happiness too. But I shouldn't be too selfless. I also have to think about my own happiness. And decide once and for all whether he's a hopeless case or not." She groaned, "Sorry. I'm babbling more now than you ever have. I guess as usual there are no easy answers."

"I think," Lucy started hesitantly, "that if you give up on him now he'll go back to the way he was. He seems happier now and that's coming from someone who knew him as her professor. It's not exactly the same but when I first met Sirius I sort of went through something similar. He was told not to leave this house in either form but he did anyway. He's reckless and bitter. And sometimes I think being in Azkaban so long has made him a little loony. What got me, what made all that not matter so much was the way he cares about people. He's sort of an all or nothing guy in that respect. If he cares about you you get all of that emotion."

Dinah smiled, "That's nice. You know, that's good advice. It helps. Just because there are hardships, it doesn't make all the good times invalid. And there _have_ been good times. I should try to remember that. Besides, I don't really want to leave him. I just thought that maybe that was the most logical choice. I guess sometimes you just have to follow your heart, though."

"Logic and emotion are two totally different things. Take it from someone who knows." Lucy jumped, and Dinah looked over to see a pair of arms wrapped around Lucy's waist.

"Hi."

"Stop doing that!"

Sirius's head came between the two witches and kissed Lucy's cheek. "Did you go out today?" It seemed he knew about Lucy's peculiarities. Normally, Dinah thought, you'd ask someone how their day was, not if they went out.

Lucy shook her head, "No, but we had a relatively normal day. No panic attacks or anything like that. We even decorated. Your family by the way has very weird decorations."

Dinah laughed, "Slightly."

"Dead trees…what was with those anyway? And that giant green and red snake garland with the bells hanging from it. Those got thrown away and the snake went back in the box."

"Mother had horrible tastes. Where's our dear Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts? I assumed he wouldn't be wandering around the house by himself with me about to pop back in at any moment?" he asked, sitting on the other side of Lucy.

"We're not going to talk about that," Lucy said through clenched teeth, glancing at Dinah.

Dinah shot her a grateful smile. Although not talking about it ultimately wouldn't change the overall feeling that his absence brought to her. Although she was feeling a little better, she didn't want to think too much about it for fear that she might feel more of that crushing sadness. "He'll be back tomorrow," she told Sirius, and then stood up, "I think I'm going to go out and buy his gift, now that I have an opportunity. I'll be back in a couple of hours at the most. But it probably won't take that long."

"Oh, of course," Lucy stood and put a hand on her shoulder, "You'll be all right?"

"Yes," Dinah smiled again at her friend. She was right. It was nice not to feel alone at a time like this. "Thank you. I think buying his gift will be a good thing. After all," she grinned, "he presumably has one for me too, right?"

Lucy smiled, "At this point I think he better have one."

Dinah couldn't help but laugh; "Right. I'll see you later, then." She apparated away to Diagon Alley and Flourish and Blotts.


	11. Chapter 11

"What was all that about?" Sirius asked.

Lucy stepped back and leaned on the counter somewhat self-consciously, "I don't want to tell you. You'll get angry."

Sirius rolled his eyes. She knew he thought she was being silly. "It can't have been that bad. There's really only one thing in this house I care about and she seems to be all in one piece."

She smiled and looked at the floor. She knew he knew the gesture meant she was pleased by his comment but still didn't want to tell him what she was going to tell him. It didn't stop her from doing it all the same. "You _can't_ say anything to him. I'm not sure if Dinah wants me telling you and I'm positive Severus wouldn't like it. Don't forget I have to work with him and I like her."

"I wouldn't dream of saying anything."

Lucy just stared at him.

"Okay, I would but I won't, at least not to anyone but you."

"That'll have to do I suppose," she said, half smiling. He did seem to be trying to be civil so she could have a decent friendship with Dinah. "Severus and Dinah were alone and from what Dinah says they were making out and something, I don't know what, reminded him of Lily and he sort of pulled away and decided he had to leave until tomorrow. Needless to say it left her a little frustrated and confused about what she should do."

"If it were anyone but Snivellus-"

Now Lucy glared at him.

"He's not here," he said before continuing, "I'd recommend she grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and persuade him to get the job done."

"It's not that simple. I mean look at how long it took us…"

"That was all you. And," he continued before she could respond, "I think I was very gentlemanly about the whole thing. Besides neither one of us was left…frustrated."

She rolled her eyes. Sex. It was pretty much all he thought of. She pushed away from the counter and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a proper kiss hello. "Did you have a good time?"

"Mmmm," he mumbled, trying to go back for more, "Always do," he said when she pulled away a bit. "Teddy asked for you," he told her, pulling her down onto his lap.

Sirius managed to distract her enough that she only said, "He did?" before his comment sunk in. "Sirius, Teddy is only eight months old. There's no way he asked for me."

"Sure he did," he said, tugging her robe off her shoulder. "He pointed at me and said 'lululululu' I think it's clear he was wondering where you were."

Lucy laughed and used his hair to pull his head up. "Anything else?"

"Tonks has some things to tell you, but she'd rather do that herself. And she sent a picture along but I'm not showing that to you now as we only have so much time before Dinah returns," he said, returning to what he was doing before she pulled his hair.

Lucy moaned before she tapped his shoulder, "I think we'll be more comfortable over there, under the mistletoe."

He reluctantly looked over to where she was pointing, "Ah, the location of our first kiss. Perhaps this time we can finish what we started. What I would have tried very hard to finish if we hadn't had an audience watching."

Lucy smiled; "That's the idea."

* * *

Dinah apparated back into her Grimmauld Place bedroom to find that Sirius and Lucy had moved Severus's things from his room into hers. Since he wasn't coming back for any nights they must have figured they could start getting it ready for their other guests, or something. She sighed and placed the envelope with the gift certificate she had purchased on the nightstand. It seemed like such an insignificant, impersonal gift now. She felt detached from it. But hopefully he liked it. Anyone in a normal relationship would have gotten back at him by not getting him anything, she thought with a grin. But they were definitely not in a normal relationship.

She wandered downstairs to look for Lucy and Sirius. She didn't notice them in the hallway or the main room, and ended up heading into the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen, seeing Sirius by himself. He hadn't noticed her come in and when she looked down to see what he was staring so intently at she saw him holding a silver ring with a single emerald on it. When he looked up and saw her he quickly hid the ring in his fist. "Oh, hi. I didn't hear you come in. Lucy's upstairs…napping."

Dinah nodded, but the ring had distracted her. It had been lovely, but green wasn't the color of an engagement ring. So she wasn't sure why he was hiding it. "Is that a gift for Lucy?" she asked, nodding her head at his closed hand.

"Yes…and no. I mean it's hers if she says yes," he seemed nervous and wasn't making much sense. Maybe it was more than a gift after all. "Lucy's got this thing about heirlooms and tradition. She doesn't like that I could easily chuck pretty much everything in this house without a problem. This is not my mother's ring, hers was extremely ugly. This is a family ring though, and it's one I actually like. What do you think?" he said, finally unclenching his fist and handing her the ring.

She took the ring into her hands and examined it. On closer inspection, it was even lovelier than from a distance. Its design was simple but it shined and shimmered in the light. Its surfaces were clean and unscratched. The emerald was perfectly cut and not too small or too large in its basic setting. "It's lovely," she murmured, "I'm sure Lucy will accept it. Why wouldn't she?"

He shrugged, "I suppose it's just general nerves. I can remember James going through the same thing. I don't know if Remus did or not. I suppose once he got over the age difference it wasn't so bad for him," he paused and seemed to collect himself a bit. "I guess I'm worried she'll think it's too soon. She's still trying to deal with her guilt about not being here when I…died and there's the whole separation anxiety thing."

Dinah felt her eyes widen. "Then it really is...? I mean this is a – it's green but it's...?" she couldn't seem to finish her sentence.

Sirius smirked, "Yes, yes it is. Like I said Lu's big on tradition and while this is not the Black family engagement ring, it is a Black family ring. That's why it's silver with an emerald; Slytherin colors, you know."

"Oh!" Dinah gasped, "I'm sorry. I guess I'm slow. I mean it..." she paused and smiled when it finally hit her, "Sirius, this is going to make Lucy _so _happy."

"I hope so. I haven't talked to her father about it but then she doesn't talk to her father so I don't think she'll care."

"Hmm," Dinah agreed, "From what I heard about him, yes, I don't think that would matter much."

"I was thinking about wrapping it up for Christmas but that seems a little overdone. Besides, she's pointed out to me on more than one occasion a proposal scene in a book and said, 'See, now, you can't propose to a girl in front of everyone, whether or not she knows them. It doesn't give her a chance to say no.' So I don't know…when. You're a woman. What do you think?"

Dinah grinned at his rather obvious statement, and then turned thoughtful. "I don't know. If she's pointed it out to you more than once, as a girl, it's pretty obvious she's trying to tell you something. But that also confuses me because I don't know why she would tell you that unless she wasn't sure she was going to say yes. I have a very, _very_ hard time thinking she'll say no, though. I mean, but you know her better than I do."

"I don't think she'll say no. I just—I'm not sure how to go about this. I never really had the desire to be married and then in Azkaban…well it would've been rather odd to want to marry anything in there. Every time I think I've got a plan it seems like it's been done a million times before…"

"Ah, so maybe," an idea occurred to Dinah, "Maybe by showing you that she was really trying to hint that she wanted to be proposed to in private. Not so she can say no, just because she wants it to be more personal. That said, I don't think she'd care exactly how you go about it as long as it came from the heart."

He nodded, "You could be right. Women are such odd creatures," Sirius took back the ring she held out to him; "I suppose there's really no rush about it though. Especially now that I've got it properly sized. By the way, I'm sure she's noticed it's missing, but she hasn't been frantically searching for her mother's ring, has she? I didn't want to take it but she's got such small fingers there's no way this one would have fit and I knew her mother's did…"

"Ah, so that's where it went," Dinah grinned, "No, she hasn't been frantic. She's mentioned it a couple of times and I don't think she's happy but I don't think it's been missing long enough for her to be too worried about it. She just assumes she must have misplaced it."

"Good," he said and dropped the ring into the now infamous wand case sitting on the table. He looked back at Dinah, "Lu sort of hated this present so she's not likely to look in here. She'll deny it if you say anything to her, but she's almost as bad as the twins with presents. I try not to keep things wrapped up lying around." He grinned, "I suppose I should go to the store if we want to eat tonight. Is there anything in particular you want me to pick up?"

Dinah thought about it. She felt kind of bad for eating half the bag of tortilla crisps; "Well, you might need to get some more tortilla crisps, as I ate a lot of them. Other than that I don't have any specific requests. I'm not picky, so I'm happy with whatever you serve me. Er," she paused. She still had mixed feelings about Sirius, because of the things he had done to Severus in the past. But Lucy was right; he was basically a good person. So she would let that issue go for now. Yet somehow she knew eventually they'd have to face it. "Thanks for not minding me sticking around even with Severus gone."

"No problem. It's not you I have a problem with," he said, a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Anyway, Lucy's up in our room. You can go wake her up if you want or I can do it on my way out. Oh, we put…Severus's things in your room. The twins stayed in his last time they were here and must have left one of their experiments in there and it went off. There was stuff oozing out from under the door when we walked past. Lu tried to clean his stuff up as best she could."

She decided to ignore his bitter tone for now. The idea of an experiment going off in that room was rather amusing, anyway, "Uh, no problem." She stifled a giggle, "I'm sure we'll be leaving tomorrow anyway, so it's okay that I keep them with me. I'll go up and wake Lucy."

He nodded to acknowledge her leaving and she walked upstairs, her steps slowing down as she made it to the second set. She hadn't been thinking about it, but she was heading to that room where she had seen Severus find Lily's letter in the pensieve. She wondered if it would look the same as it did then. And worse, would it feel the same?

It was probably best to just face the issue down rather than running back and asking Sirius to go wake Lucy up. So she knocked lightly on the door.

An indistinct mumbling came from inside and then nothing. Dinah tried knocking again.

This time she heard what she thought was a growl. The door was yanked open and Lucy appeared.

"What _are_…oh! Dinah," she quickly pulled the robe she was wearing closed; "Sorry I didn't realize it was you. Do you need something?"

Dinah flushed, extremely embarrassed. "I'll have to thank Sirius for warning me about this," she muttered.

Lucy's face was about as red as her hair, "Sorry. I don't normally sleep like this…Do you want to come in? It'll only take me a minute to change and there's a screen in case you're worried," she smiled.

"Er, sure," she walked in, "Sirius suggested that I come and wake you. I hope you don't mind."

"No, it's fine," she went behind a screen made of dark wood with red fabric panels, "I don't normally sleep in the middle of the day. It's only because we….well never mind. How'd the shopping trip go?"

"I figured you 'well never mind-ed'," Dinah teased, "And the shopping trip went well. I got the gift certificate. A six-Galleon one. That should be enough for four small books or two large ones, depending on what he wants to get."

Lucy came out fully clothed with her hair put up, "That's good. Much better than that dusty, smelly, old, used one I'm more or less re-gifting," she said smiling. "I just have to make the bed then we can go down. I'm glad this is the first room I insisted on re-doing completely. I mean I like green and all but I think it's overkill when that's pretty much the only color in the house. Not to mention the wall paper was starting to come off the walls, but that's going on through the whole house so you probably noticed."

Dinah smiled, realizing that Lucy's dress had distracted her from looking around the room. Or maybe it was because the room looked so different now that she didn't think to look. Anyway, it _was _different. Very different. The colors had been changed and everything had been moved around. The single bed on the left wall was replaced by a king-sized bed on the back wall. The floor had been carpeted, the walls redone... it might as well not have been the same room at all. It was quite a relief, actually. Severus could probably have come in too and it wouldn't have affected him. "Believe me, I think the changes are all for the better. It's a lovely room."

"Thank you. Sirius told you about Severus's room, right?"

She nodded, "Yes. It must be interesting having such tricksters in the family."

Lucy laughed, "Interesting is one way to put it. Opening that joke shop of theirs was the best thing they ever did, I think. They bought Zonko's in Hogsmeade a month or so ago and have been busy re-doing the shop. I'm sure the students will love it when it opens. I have mixed feelings myself, being one of the professors who will have to deal with their jokes and all."

"Well, hopefully it isn't too much worse than what the students already use from Zonko's. Sirius says he's going out grocery shopping. Were you planning to do dinner after he got back then?"

"Oh, good he broke down first. Yeah, we can do dinner when he gets back. If you're hungry that is. We can have a low-key evening if you want. We do have a wizard's chess set but like I said earlier, it bites."

"What do you think about me apparating home really quick and bringing back some Muggle board games? Chess would be fun, but if the set bites..."

"That sounds fun! You'll probably beat us soundly but it should make for an interesting night. Especially if we find any more surprises from Fred and George. Oh, I meant to gives these back to you earlier," she handed Dinah the clothes she had borrowed the other day.

"Oh, thanks," she took them back. "Did you like them? Muggle clothes are different, but comfortable." She didn't tell Lucy that she had picked up an outfit for her while out shopping. She had also grabbed something for Sirius to go with the outfit she had already bought for him. It wouldn't be right not to have him open something on Christmas. Severus would probably be annoyed, though.

"They were comfortable," she agreed. "Sirius liked them, too. He couldn't keep his eyes off my butt if you didn't notice."

Dinah laughed, "Blue jeans are a bit more fitting than robes, it's true. Well, then I'll go get some games. I'll meet you down in the kitchen?"

"Sounds good. Once Sirius gets back we'll start making dinner so we don't have to wait too long to eat."

"Okay. I'll see you shortly." She apparated from the house for the second time that day.


	12. Chapter 12

"But I want to be the dog! You can be the car. You _like_ Muggle cars, remember your motorcycle?" Lucy whined.

"You should share. Sharing is good for you," Sirius told her as if he'd have been more than willing to share with her.

"I am an only child. I didn't have to learn how to share."

Dinah laughed, probably thinking that they looked like a couple of children arguing like this for the past five minutes. "You could always flip a Knut for it," she joked, rolling between her fingers the small silver thimble she had chosen as her own piece.

"I call heads!" Lucy shouted, before Sirius had a chance. Dinah flicked a Knut into the air and it landed back down on the table. Tails up.

"Ha!"

"You are going to pay for that later," Lucy said through clenched teeth. She grudgingly picked up the little silver car; "It doesn't even have a backseat like other cars."

"It's an old car," Dinah explained, stuffing the Knut back into her robes with an amused expression. "Now, I'm going to be the banker since neither of you has played before. That puts me in charge of the money." She started handing out some strange, colorful pieces of rectangular paper with numbers on them.

"This is what Muggles use as money? And they use it to play a game? That doesn't seem right."

"No, no," Dinah said with a giggle. "This isn't real money. It's play money."

Lucy smiled; glad her friend wasn't afraid to laugh at her anymore. It was nice to see that her emotional issues didn't seem to be affecting her relationships too much. "Okay, well what do we do now?"

"Well, we all start by putting our pieces on the 'Go' space here. Then we roll the dice and move the number of spaces that they indicate."

Lucy threw the dice and got a four and a two. She moved her little car six spaces, landing on The Angel Islington. "That sounds pretty."

"That's a place," Dinah said, "All of these things are either places or roads. When you land on a space you can look at the price at the bottom there and decide if you want to buy it or not."

"Hmm. It's doesn't seem expensive. I think I'll buy it," Lucy handed Dinah the money and the game continued on that way for the next couple hours, Dinah patiently explaining the rules as needed…and sometimes playing referee.

Finally Sirius said, "Is this a never ending game or what? Do Muggles really play this long?"

Dinah frowned and glanced at the clock on the wall; "You know, it is getting late. I'm sorry, I didn't even think about it since I was so busy teaching you. Usually my family plays the game in that we set aside two hours and if nobody wins by then we just stop and whoever has the most money at that time is the winner."

"That's all right," said Lucy, "He's just a sore loser." She looked over at his significantly smaller pile of money, "Looks like you win, Dinah."

Dinah shrugged, "Well, you both did really well anyway. This was fun."

Lucy nodded, "I think so. Perhaps we can play another Muggle game sometime. What about that one with the colorful dots on it? That looks fun; we should play that next time."

"Oh, did you see that on my game shelf?" Dinah flushed slightly, "It's one I've had since I was a child. It could be interesting to play as adults. Although who knows, maybe I could trick Severus into it."

"I confess I snooped around a little bit. Just things that were readily visible. I didn't go through your drawers or anything."

"Oh, I'm not worried about it. I'm totally nosy in other people's places, too," Dinah grinned, and then yawned, "But I think I'm ready to turn in."

They put the game away and then Dinah bid them good-night before heading upstairs to her room.

"Good day?" Sirius asked as they climbed into bed.

"Mostly," Lucy yawned, even though she had napped earlier.

"Just mostly?

"Yeah, I had fun decorating with Dinah and all but I feel bad about what happened with her and Severus."

He pulled her down onto the bed with him; "That's not your fault or your problem."

"I know," she said, snuggling, "but I still feel bad. On top of that I've been looking for my mother's ring all day and haven't found it yet." She looked up at him, "You haven't seen it, have you?"

"Oh, I meant to tell you before I left," he got up and went to where he had left his robes. "I found Dora batting it around this morning and stuffed it in my pocket before I left."

"Oh, good! I was starting to worry," Lucy put the ring on and thought for a moment, "That's odd, though. Dora doesn't usually go for things that don't roll well."

Sirius just shrugged and got back into bed, seeming to want to leave the subject. "You know," he said with that gleam in his eye she knew well, "The room below us is empty and your family will be here soon…"

"So what are you suggesting?" Lucy said, smiling.

"Oh, nothing," he said, rolling them over.

Lucy laughed. One thing he would never have to worry about. He made her laugh more than anyone else…except maybe the twins.

* * *

Dinah stepped into the bedroom and looked at Severus's simple, black bag sitting by the dresser on the left. Kneeling in front of it, she touched the leather and ran her hand along its smooth surface. It seemed clean enough. What kind of strange experiment was it that the Weasley twins had exploded in his room? Well, it didn't matter. He wouldn't be sleeping here again, anyway.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, to preserve her sanity, Dinah crawled into bed. Using her wand to extinguish the light in the room, she pulled the covers up to her chin and stared at the black ceiling. The bed was warm, but she felt cold inside. She knew that she wouldn't leave Severus yet, but the question of whether this relationship would ever go anywhere still plagued her.

She wasn't sure how well she'd be able to deal with this kind of abandonment a second time.

With that distressing thought, she managed to fall asleep.

* * *

Dinah wasn't sure what woke her up in the middle of the night, but the next thing she knew she found herself staring up at the ceiling again, wondering what time it was. As she stared she began to feel like there was another presence in the room. Something breathing beside her.

She took her wand from the nightstand next to her and whispered, "_Lumos_."

Slowly shifting onto her right side, she could just make out the shape of Severus sleeping beside her. Her breath caught in her throat but she forced herself not to make a sound so she didn't wake him.

He had come back!

She just stared for a long time, warm joy welling up in her as her lips curved into a smile. She recognized his sleeping form from the few other times they had slept in the same bed, but still it always amazed her how peaceful looking he was when asleep. The hard, stern Severus she knew during the day visibly softened when at rest. It was a beautiful sight.

She wasn't sure why he had come back, but the point was that he had. And with the other room the way it was he must have figured his things had been moved here. All of her worries about breaking up with him and where the relationship might go drifted from her mind. If he was able to work through his issues and actually _come back_ then there had to be more hope for the two of them than she had ever imagined.  
Her smile widened and the tears she fought back this time were ones of joy. "You came back," she whispered, moving forward and gently wrapping her arms around his wait, resting her head on his chest. She could feel his breath in her hair and his heart beating underneath her, rhythmically. And then his arms tightened only slightly around her.

"Dinah."

She gasped and looked up, but the light of her wand revealed that he was quite clearly still asleep. Still asleep, and yet he had whispered _her _name.

Not Lily. Dinah.

Dinah sighed, more content than she'd ever felt, and extinguished her wand before closing her eyes. "I love you, Severus," she whispered, and knew that it was true.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy woke up and rolled over hoping to go back to sleep. It was too early and she was still tired. After a couple minutes it was clear she wasn't going to fall back to sleep. Rather than wake Sirius and risk waking Dinah in the process she grabbed a bathrobe to cover her short nightgown…or at least it was probably too short for others' sensibilities.

She descended the stairs extra quietly and without a light so she was startled when she ran into Severus exiting Dinah's room. "Oh!" Lucy whispered, "Professor Snape. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Sometimes, like right now, it was hard to remember he was no longer _her_ professor and couldn't send her to bed with a threat of points being taken away.

Severus frowned, looking more startled and uncomfortable than anything. She was surprised he hadn't jumped at seeing her, but then he wasn't the type to let being startled show visibly. "Oh…Good morning," he said in an awkward tone.

"You're back early. Dinah said you'd be gone until tomorrow…well today," she wasn't terribly thrilled to see him but she was trying to be respectful of Dinah.

"Yes, well..." he actually looked embarrassed. Almost. "I decided at some point last night to come back early. Although it appeared that something had desecrated my bedroom, so I had to share Dinah's."

She almost didn't respond and even took two steps toward the stairs before turning back, "Yes, Fred and George seem to have been experimenting with something the last time they visited. They must have missed one of the experiments and last evening it finally detonated. Sorry."

He raised an eyebrow, probably at her flippant tone, and shrugged. "It seems none of my items were harmed. And I," he frowned, and it looked like a severe strain on him to force his next words out, "apologize for leaving without warning like... that..."

Lucy sighed. He was trying. She just had to keep reminding herself that he wasn't a social person and he was trying. "Thank you, but it's not me you need to apologize to." She pulled her bathrobe tighter; "Look, I'm cold, but the fireplace in the kitchen should still have hot coals and it won't take much to get it going. If you want to join me you'd be welcome."

He hesitated for only a moment and then nodded without a word, following her down the stairs. When they entered the kitchen and she was working on re-stoking the fire, he spoke again, "A second gift."

She was still tired so Lucy wasn't surprised when her brain refused to process that statement with any sort of logic, "Huh?"

"A second gift," he repeated, looking almost embarrassed again, "I er... bought her one to apologize."

"Oh," she said, standing but staying close to the fire, "that's good. Better than Sirius has done, anyway. I mean he did apologize for not knowing when my birthday was but flowers or something would have been nice, too."

"Hm," Snape grunted response, and then sat down at the table before continuing, "Was she..." he sighed, "I don't know why I'm asking you this. Was she... very upset?"

"You're asking because you care and it depends on your definition of very upset. She was upset enough to want to cry but not enough to actually do it. Upset enough to tell me about it and ask me what she should do."

"I see," Severus looked uncomfortable, and then glanced down at the table, apparently deeply interested in the patterns of the wood grain.

Lucy sighed again, sitting down next to him. "Don't. Wait. Let me start over. I can't say don't worry about it but honestly, we're girls, we do things like that. You probably don't want to hear this but once over the summer Sirius made some stupid comment to me and I apparated out of here. In retrospect that probably wasn't the wisest move because he didn't know where I went, if I was okay, or if I was coming back. I went to Tonks and I cried and I yelled and I questioned what I was doing with him. Now, obviously we made up but what I guess I'm saying is; it's not unusual for a girl to question her relationships. We think we can handle anything you boys throw at us and then something happens and it's too much or too hard and we start to think maybe we shouldn't have gotten into this. Generally we go to our friends and talk about it and come to the decision we would have made on our own anyway. I think most of us would rather stay with the guy and work on our problems than be without him."

Severus gave her an odd look, "Yes, well I didn't expect such a detailed explanation. But I suppose that makes some sense. In this situation, however, I'm surprised she hasn't left me. If I were her I would have left me by now."

Lucy shrugged, "She thinks you're worth it. That came out kind of wrong. It's not that I don't think you're worth it. It's just that you and I would never have lasted…not that I've ever really thought about us like that. I haven't. Great, now I sound like an idiot."

Severus finally appeared to lighten up and seemed amused again, so maybe her babbling had been for the best. Still, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear whatever wry comment he had cooked up for her. "You certainly have a talent at thinking things through, don't you?" he said. Well, that wasn't so bad. "Either way, I suppose we should eat breakfast. Can I..." again it was like he had to force the words, "Help you with anything?"

She laughed, "I suppose that's why I ended up in Ravenclaw. I do tend to get there through some rather awkward and embarrassing means though." She stood and headed for the food, "Would you like an omelet? Or more accurately scrambled eggs with omelet fillings mixed in? I like omelets I just can't make them. You can cut up the stuff to add in but if you don't want to that's fine. I won't be offended."

He shrugged, "I can help. Gives me something to do until Dinah comes down." He didn't seem too concerned about what Dinah might say when she saw him, but Lucy couldn't imagine why. He had seemed concerned that she had been upset when he was gone. Maybe he had already talked to her in their bedroom.

Lucy smiled, thinking that Dinah should be seeing this. Not that long ago he wouldn't have even offered to help and he definitely wouldn't have even hinted at emotional issues. He had changed, perhaps more than Dinah realized.

* * *

Dinah opened her eyes to a lighted, empty room. The sheets next to her on the bed had been meticulously made up and shaped so that it looked like no one had slept there. But Dinah knew that Severus coming back hadn't been a dream. She knew even without the one small piece of evidence. Her wand, which she had extinguished before falling asleep, rested neatly in the middle of Severus's pillow. She knew she hadn't put it back on the nightstand, and so Severus must have found it and put it there.

It meant he knew she had woken up and saw him there. But whether she had still been cuddled up to him when he woke would remain a mystery since she wasn't about to ask him that question.

She got out of bed and took a quick shower, then threw her robes on and left the room. She came into the kitchen to find Severus and Lucy eating what appeared to be omelets for breakfast. Severus was facing away from her, and so Lucy, sitting across from him, was the first to look up and notice Dinah.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well? Would you like an omelet? Well, technically they're scrambled eggs but I still call them omelets," Lucy seemed a bit nervous for some reason. Maybe she'd spent too much time alone with Severus or something.

"'Morning," Dinah said, and then found herself running an absent-minded hand through her hair as Severus turned to look at her. She smiled a bit, "Um, yeah. An omelet...thing... would be good." She took a breath and walked forward, sitting down next to Severus and meeting his gaze as Lucy went up to put more eggs on a plate for her, "Good morning."

"Good morning," he was facing her but his eyes were shifted off to the side. He looked as awkward as she felt, "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well," she felt herself smiling, "Thank you."

His eyes met hers for a split second before he turned away and nodded. Lucy plopped some eggs in front of Dinah, and Severus turned to address his own food once again. Perhaps it was better that no one mentioned what had happened yesterday. It didn't really feel like she needed to right now. They ate in relative silence until Sirius came into the room.

When he came in Lucy looked up and gestured at the stove, "Eggs are over there."

Sirius served himself before coming over to the table and pulling something out of his pocket, "I forgot to show this to you yesterday. It's a new picture of Teddy."

"Awww," Lucy cooed over the picture, handing it to Dinah, "Isn't he cute?"

Dinah took the picture and looked at it. It was probably a good thing that Sirius was ignoring Severus's presence. Besides, the two of them couldn't know that he had been in bed with her that night. For all they knew it was 'tomorrow' and he had just decided to come back very early.

She smiled down at what she held in her hand. The baby in the picture was smiling, his arms waving gleefully as his eyes danced up at the camera which had taken his photo. It was like he was smiling at her. "He's so sweet." She tilted her head to the side and continued to regard the picture, "It must be so nice to have a family."

Lucy smiled faintly, "Tonks and Remus seem to like it and Bill and Fleur will find out in a few months."

Dinah nodded and handed the picture back to Sirius, then glanced at Severus. He had been watching her with a curious expression, but turned back to his food when he saw her looking. "So..." Dinah said, "What's the plan for presents and all that now? I think Severus and I will probably leave later this evening. Not that I don't enjoy being here. I do, but I think we've had enough adventure for one holiday season. I hope we might be able to do the same next year, though. If circumstances permit," she glanced at Severus again but he was still focused on his food.

"Well, I could go get dressed and we can meet in the library for presents if you want. And I'd love to do this again next year. Heck, you can visit during the summer if you want. I mean I don't know what your plans are or anything but don't feel like you have to stay away," Lucy rose and took her plate to the sink, waving her wand to start it washing.

Severus stood, "I think I'll go upstairs and get some things for the exchange."

"Oh, that's right!" Dinah stood, forgetting about her half-eaten plate. "I'll have to go and gather up my things for you two as well." She hurried towards the hallway, and somehow she and Severus managed to get stuck in the archway leading towards the stairs, having both hit it at the same time.

Lucy snorted, probably thinking that the situation was funny, "Maybe we should put a traffic signal there."

"Uh, yeah," Dinah agreed with a nervous grin, turning around in the small space so that they were no longer squished. Severus made a noise that was either surprised or frustrated and Dinah flushed, turning to look at him. "Sorry!" she muttered. "I was in such a hurry."

"Hmm," he stared down at her, and then his mouth curved into one of those half-smiles, half-smirks he gave her when she did something that particularly amused him. He nodded his head in the direction of the table, "That's the first time I've ever seen you so excited about something you forgot to finish your food."

She felt her face grow redder and smiled shyly. "Yeah, well... even _I _can ignore food _sometimes_."

"Mm," he agreed, and they continued to stand there looking at each other. Neither of them moved. And then for some reason Dinah felt her gaze drift upwards, and her head along with it, until she saw what dangled above and between their heads. Lucy and Sirius's Slytherin house mistletoe, complete with the tiny silver snake in the middle. Dinah's cheeks reddened again as she thought that it seemed to be meant for her, with that snake. She looked back at Severus.

He had also been staring up at the mistletoe and now looked down again and met her gaze. He just stared for a long time, made a noncommittal noise, and then stared some more. She wasn't sure what to think. But then he seemed to shrug, and leaned down, kissing her very briefly on the lips.

Dinah smiled after he pulled away, feeling almost breathless with pleasant surprise. She had been so sure they would never use that mistletoe. At least not this year.

She was well aware that Lucy and Sirius were staring at them, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Severus. Why hadn't he bolted yet? After doing that in front of other people, that was what she had expected him to do. But he just continued to stare at her, looking thoughtful, and she found herself desperately curious to know what was going on inside that head of his.

Finally he shrugged again, more visibly this time, and his head came toward her. Even more surprised, she managed to lean forward and meet him this time, and he kissed her again. His right hand came to rest on her hip, pulling her forward a tiny bit, and the kiss lingered. It still wasn't a long kiss, but his lips parted for just a moment, adding intimacy, before he pulled away. He was smiling. Just a little bit, but it was enough for her right now. She smiled back.

He turned and walked out of the archway without another word, heading for the stairs leading up. She shot one shocked glance and a shrug at Lucy and Sirius, and then hurried after him.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: So, towards the end of this chapter there is a slightly awkward POV switch that I guess neither myself or CommanderValeria noticed at first. But things are mostly in Lucy's POV up until then and then they switch to Dinah's. But there isn't enough of a scene change for a horizontal bar, so... I'm just letting you readers know to expect it. :) Sorry for our little mistake there!

* * *

Lucy stared at Sirius, flabbergasted by what had just happened, "What _was_ that?"

He shrugged, "Taking the bull by the horns, I'm guessing."

"You think so? I doubt it. A bit of making out maybe. Anyway we should get to the library."

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean am I sure? We said we'd meet them in the library so yeah I think we should go there."

They gathered the dishes and set them to washing in the sink before exiting the same way Dinah and Severus had. Under the arch Sirius stopped her, "Well, someone aught to use this properly."

He pushed her back against the frame. His lips were nearly on hers when she said, "But we already…"she didn't get to finish her sentence until she heard someone clearing their throat, "did."

"Now, they know how it aught to look," he whispered in her ear.

"What was that?" Dinah asked, looking amused as she came back down the stairs followed by Severus, both of them carrying a few wrapped packages.

"Nothing," Lucy said, shoving Sirius away from her. "He's just being bothersome."

Dinah waved it aside, and Severus looked stone-faced as usual. "Well, are you ready to do this? We grabbed all the gifts."

"All right. It's just down here," Lucy said, grabbing Sirius's hand and leading the group down the hall and to the closed door of the library.

For the second time in two days they entered the snowing room. Lucy pulled Sirius over to a couch close to the tree and the couple sat on it close together. Sirius with his arm around Lucy's shoulders and Lucy with her head on his shoulder and her feet tucked up underneath her.

Severus took a seat on the couch across from them closest to the tree and across from Sirius. That probably hadn't been intentional. Dinah slid in next to him and placed the presents in her hands down onto the rug in between the two couches before leaning back in her seat.

The door had unintentionally been left open and Lucy tried to jump up when her cat leapt up onto Severus's lap, rubbed her face against his chest and laid down.

"Eh-" Severus started, wincing slightly as Dinah covered her mouth and tried to stifle a giggle. "Um," he muttered, looking exceedingly uncomfortable with all eyes on him. His hand hovered over the cat's head and then petted it awkwardly twice. Then he shot a glance at Dinah, as if asking what to do.

She laughed, "Don't look at me like that. Obviously the cat likes you. That's a good thing."

"I suppose," but the frown remained plastered on his face as he stared down at Dora.

"Sorry," Lucy said, "She likes cuddle with everyone but me. Sirius seems to be her favorite which I find weird because he spends half his time as a dog. Even when he's Snuffles she likes to cuddle with him."

Dinah grinned, "Some cats like dogs. Godric loves my parents' poodle whenever we go home."

Lucy smiled affectionately at her cat; "I just think she likes to be bothersome." Lucy stood and picked Dora up, "You, Elladora Ketteridge, might be better served by sitting over here," she handed her to Sirius. She bent over by the tree and searched for the two packages with Dinah's and Severus's names on them. Once found she handed one to each of them. Then she grabbed the one she'd bought for Sirius to open now and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Dinah smiled, and Severus gave a slight nod, looking mildly surprised as he turned the gift over in his hands. She wasn't sure why he'd be surprised. 'Presents' usually implied that they would all be getting some. Or maybe he was just surprised or curious about the shape. Dinah lifted up a large brown package and a small one. "Here you two go," she handed the small one to Sirius and the larger one to Lucy. "I'm hoping we get more opportunities to explore the Muggle world together, or that you'll all spend some time at my place again for a longer period at some point. I already gave you those clothes I bought the day before, Sirius, but-" she waved her hand and laughed, "Oh, just open them."

"Thanks," Lucy said, and Sirius echoed her. The pair ripped into their packages, Lucy finding a pair of blue jeans and a green jumper similar to the one she'd borrowed from Dinah, with a matching necklace and bracelet and a small handbag. Sirius opened a box containing a brow leather wallet. "Oh, wow. These are lovely."

"This is what Muggles carry their money in, correct? That should come in handy the next time we spend time at your house."

"Yes it is. I'm so glad you like them," Dinah looked a little embarrassed, "It was hard to decide what to get, but after our trip and I had already gotten the clothes for Sirius it seemed like a good idea. "Oh," she grinned, "and Severus would like you to know that I signed his name for him on the gift tags."

"I didn't say-" Severus began, looking almost flustered.

"It's fine, I think they figured it out anyway," she smiled at him, "Besides, I think at least Lucy knows deep down somewhere you secretly signed it on the inside."

"Why are you-" Severus started again, but Dinah laughed and he just shrugged. "Well, whatever. You're still impossible to figure out."

Lucy laughed. It was nice to see them comfortable enough to tease each other. "Well, go on, open yours."

"Sure," Dinah nodded, and she and Severus began ripping open their packages. Dinah unwrapped slowly to let Severus finish first. The book he pulled out was old and worn.

"This is... an original copy of Elladora Ketteridge's _The Many and Varied Uses of Gillyweed_?" Severus asked, looking surprised, but pleasantly so if she dared think it.

Lucy nodded, "Yes, I found it in a bunch of books my dad sent down. He was trying to get rid of them."

Severus opened the book up to the inside cover and his eyes widened slightly, "Signed." He looked up at her, "I'd have to check, but this might be worth something."

"It could be. We inherited that one and the other three from…well, I assume Elladora herself. They came down through the family in the usual way," Lucy shrugged, somewhat embarrassed.

"I'm simply saying are you sure you want to give this away? Although, since you seem to have three other copies..."

"Oh, I'm sure. We do have three other copies and I'm sure you'll enjoy it far more than I ever will."

"Well, then if you're sure," he placed the book aside, "This should prove useful to have around. Thank you." He smirked, "I'll make sure not to show it to Professor Slughorn."

Lucy laughed, "You're welcome. And please do try to keep it away from Slughorn. If he finds out it came from me he'll probably start bugging me for a copy. His methods are deadly."

Dinah pulled out the copies of _Bewitching the_ _King_ and Plato's _Republic_ that Lucy had wrapped up for her and smiled. "Wow," she held up _Bewitching the King_, "This is the one you told me about and I wanted to borrow from you, right? The one about Anne Boleyn?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes, there were rumors she was a witch when she lived. I'm not sure what Muggles today think about her. The other one is one I used for learning about literary theory."

"Thanks!" Dinah said, setting the books aside, "It'll be interesting to see what Muggles thought of the idea of witchcraft in those early times. Especially since that was before The International Statute of Secrecy was set up. And the other book might help me teach Severus more about how Muggle thought has influenced our society in positive ways."

Severus just rolled his eyes at her remark.

"Just remember that it is still fiction, though I can help point out what is and isn't real." She turned to Sirius, who still had Dora in his lap, "Now open yours!"

Sirius had been resting the large package on the arm of the couch so he didn't squish Lucy's cat. When he opened the present he laughed, "A new wizards' chess set. Does this one bite too?"

Lucy kissed him, "No, the one you already had is the only one I've ever encountered that bit the players."

Sirius set the chess set at the side of the couch and stood, dislodging Dora from her perch. She immediately went back to sitting on Severus's lap.

Severus sighed, "This is getting redundant."

Dinah shrugged, "Just leave her be. You don't have to pet her or entertain her. Just let her sit there." She reached over and scratched Dora behind the ears.

Sirius just chuckled, enjoying Severus's discomfort. He picked up one of the presents that Lucy and Dinah had poked at yesterday, "Here you go," he said, handing it to Lucy.

The present was large and soft. She tore into it to find an oversized blanket with a large black dog, a small red fox, and a grey cat all curled up together on it. "Aw, I love it!" she said wrapping it all around her so everything but her head was covered.

"Now you can take me with you to Hogwarts and wrap me around you when you're feeling lonely or upset."

Lucy's eyes started to fill with tears. He could be so sweet sometimes, "Thank you," she said huskily.

"You're welcome," he replied, kissing her forehead.

"That's so sweet," Dinah smiled. "The cat looks like Dora. But why the fox?"

"Oh," Lucy paled a bit. She'd forgotten she hadn't told her friend about this part of her, "Um, this really shouldn't be spread about but the fox is me. I'm an animagus, but like Sirius I'm not registered."

"Wow!" Dinah repeated, blinking in surprise. Even Severus looked rather shocked. His tensing caused Dora's tail to start twitching with agitation. "Really? That's... wow," she said again. Apparently that was her new favorite word of the last half hour.

"Why not register?" Severus asked tersely, shooting Sirius a look of mild disapproval.

"Be nice," Dinah said to him in undertone, and then looked back at Lucy, "But yes. What made you decide to do that? And not register? I'm not judging, I'm just curious."

"It wasn't really my decision. I tried to register. The first few times I was unable to transform properly. Maybe I went to register too soon or something I'm not sure. After awhile they started refusing to see me for that. So, I couldn't register if they wouldn't let me. Anymore it's because I don't trust the Ministry like I used to. I know they're rebuilding and all but they've got a long way to go to regain people's trust."

Dinah nodded, "Well, I suppose that's reasonable. Don't worry, neither of us will tell anyone. Will we, Severus?"

Severus shrugged, "It's no business of mine."

"Thank you. It's not so much that I care if others know but I could get into a great deal of trouble if I'm found out. But enough with that. Surely you two have presents for each other."

Dinah smiled and nodded at Lucy's suggestion, pulling the envelope with the Flourish and Blotts gift certificate from her robes. But she was intercepted by Severus who shoved an envelope of his own into her lap. "Oh," she blushed and took it, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me until you've opened it," he retorted, but almost smiled.

She nodded and opened the envelope, and what she saw inside left her flabbergasted, "Severus! You actually-"

"Yes," he cut in. "Yesterday while you two were decorating. I _actually _put on those stupid Muggle clothes and went to that stupid Muggle bookstore and got you this gift... card, it is apparently. Which makes little sense as it looks nothing like any 'cards' that I've ever seen."

Dinah stared down at the gift card for a little longer, looked between it and the envelope that she had set beside her, and burst into giggles.

Severus sighed and threw up his hands, and then turned to Lucy, "You were right. Apparently it's impossible to predict how women will react to any kind of a gift."

Lucy smiled, "Well, I should know, shouldn't I? Being a woman and all myself. Our reactions are as varied as our reasons behind them."

"No, no," Dinah insisted through her laughter, putting a hand on Severus's shoulder and noticing that he didn't flinch at her touch this time. "It's not the gift. I love it, thank you so much. It's just... well, here," she held her own envelope out to him.

He was still staring at her like she was completely mental but he took the envelope from her instead. When he opened it and saw the gift certificate he smiled slightly, "I see. Well, at least now your reaction makes some sense."

"Exactly," she smiled and sat back, "Well?"

He turned to look at her; "This should be useful. Thank you."

She nodded, not caring much that his response had been essentially the same one he had given to Lucy for her book. He didn't really have a large collection of gratitude-expressing words in his repertoire.

"Well," Dinah sat back in the couch, "I guess that's it, then. Should we-"

"No," Severus mumbled, shoving another, smaller box into her hands.

She gasped and stared at it. It was a simple brown box, but with a green ribbon wrapped around it. Green like so many of the colors in this house. "What is...?"

"Something else," he muttered, only half meeting her gaze. "After what happened yesterday I bought you something else to apologize. Lucy did tell me to be careful about gifts like this at certain stages in a relationship, but- well, just open it," he shoved the box further into her grasp.

"Sure," she stared at him for a few moments, her heartbeat quickening, and then turned to smile at the little box in her fingers. Very carefully, she pulled the knot out of the ribbon, sliding it off and setting it aside. Inside the box was a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a tiny silver snake coiled at the bottom.

She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she fingered the little pendant, "Severus! It's-"

"You seem to like snakes," he cut in, "Don't think I haven't noticed. I can't imagine why, since you're not a Slytherin and as a general rule seem ill-disposed toward Slytherins the same as the rest of the people from other houses are. But, anyway, I thought you would like it."

"Severus..." she whispered, tears forming in her eyes, and lifted it out so it shimmered in the light of the Christmas tree. So he had noticed the way she admired the Slytherin snake and snake decorations when she passed by them. She had thought she was being discreet, but he had noticed. He had cared enough to notice. Her realization from last night that she was in love with him only felt truer. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he smiled, sliding an arm around her shoulders for a moment, "I don't expect this to make up for what I did, but..."

She shook her head, "No. That's forgotten. We'll move on."

He nodded.

For now, all was well.


	15. Chapter 15

"Thanks again for feeding us and entertaining us," Dinah shot Lucy a grin later that afternoon as they cleared the table after their late lunch. Her snake necklace shimmered around her neck.

"You're welcome. I've enjoyed having you," Lucy leaned over to wipe the table down. "He matches."

"I'm sorry... what?" Dinah was confused.

"Your snake," she gestured at Dinah's neck, "He matches the mistletoe."

"Oh!" she laughed and looked down, fingering the necklace. "He does. I wonder if maybe that's why Severus was so willing to kiss me - and in front of others no less - after seeing the mistletoe."

"Or maybe he just wanted to kiss you and didn't care who was around," Lucy shrugged. "Although, and I hope I don't offend you saying this, Sirius thinks that was not how one should properly use mistletoe. He was demonstrating proper procedure when the two of you came back down. Really, I think he was just using that as an excuse to make out."

"Oh, don't worry, I heard all that. I'll take note of it for next time." Lucy laughed and Dinah continued, "Incidentally... this is probably completely rude but I keep wanting to ask you to transform into a fox so I can see it. Don't worry, you don't have to oblige," she laughed, "I just had to confess."

"It's fine," Lucy smiled, "Actually it's kind of nice during the winter. I stay warmer with all that fur." She stepped back so that there was some room between her and the furniture. A flash of light surrounded her and when the light dissipated, a small bright red fox stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"Ah!" Dinah exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, that is amazing! I've never seen anything like it before. It's so... cute!" She leaned down and stuck her hand out. The Lucy-fox came forward and sniffed at her, then cocked its head to the side. "I guess communication is hard, though."

The little fox nodded and yawned, leaping up into a chair and curling up.

"Oh, my. I don't think I can handle the cuteness!"

"What on Earth are you talking about now?" Severus asked, coming into the room.

"Oh! Severus, look!" She grabbed his arm and pointed at the fox on the chair; "Lucy transformed for me! Isn't she adorable? I wish I could do that!"

He smirked, "Simple animagus transformation. I really can't see why you're so fascinated."

Lucy lifted her head and yipped at Severus. Dinah thought if she'd been in human form she'd be glaring at him too.

Dinah grinned, "See? You really need to develop a better appreciation for the wonder of life."

He just shrugged, "If you insist. Now, is there anything else you would like me to do besides pack all of your clothes? I'm sure Lucy and the – and Sirius have plenty to do before their own guests arrive. And your Muggle family is waiting to see you."

She groaned, "You act like I _forced _you to pack all of my clothes. No, I think we're ready to leave soon. But I would like to give the place a once-over and make sure I haven't forgotten anything." She glanced at Lucy but the fox just gave a short nod. It seemed she wanted to stay in that form for the moment. Well, probably it was a bit of a hassle to shift back and forth all the time. "Okay, let's go."

Dinah headed upstairs and Severus followed her. After she had determined that no stragglers remained of the items she had brought she turned to him, "You have everything then?"

He nodded, "I didn't bring nearly as much as you did."

"It's a male-female thing, I guess. Um, Severus?"

"Yes?"

"I was just thinking," she stared down at her hands, twiddling her fingers distractedly, "I know I have to do my traditional spend the holidays with my family thing, and we decided it's much too early to introduce you... or anything like that. Well, I was thinking I would be able to get away at around lunch time on Christmas. If you'd like to meet somewhere or something. Somewhere for wizards, not Muggles, of course."

"Hm, I think that would be fine," he agreed.

She finally looked up to meet his gaze, "Really? Great! I just thought we should at least be together at Christmas for a bit. I'd hate for you to spend it alone."

"As I have for the past eighteen years by my own choice?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Even if it was your own choice. It just doesn't seem right."

He smiled slightly and came forward, kissing her quickly on the lips for a total of six kisses now. Somehow it had gone from two to six in one day. She wasn't going to try to examine that, just accepted it for the miracle that it was. "I appreciate the thought."

She smiled. Well, she hadn't expected him to admit that he was lonely at Christmas all these past years. She knew he had been, and he knew she knew he had been, but it wasn't something to speak of. And still, he was grateful.

Now she knew Lucy was right yesterday. She couldn't leave him. Even if their relationship was doomed to never fully blossom, which she was even beginning to doubt now. Because if she gave up on him he would go back. And she wanted to help him move forward.

"Well," she stepped back, turning around and looking at the room again, making sure everything was straight and tidy. It was. "I guess that's everything. We'll have to decide which place to meet on Christmas and all that, but now we should go down and say good-bye to Lucy and Sirius." She smiled, "At least we know that they're going to have an _amazing _Christmas."

"Why is that?"

She spun around to face him again and grinned, "Sirius is going to propose to Lucy."

Severus blinked, and then his characteristic smirk formed on his face; "Oh, really? And you know this how?"

"He told me." She shrugged, "You know, I... I really don't always feel comfortable around him because of your past. But he really cares for Lucy. I think that's a redeeming quality in some ways."

"Perhaps," he shrugged, a slight scowl forming on his face. "Although I realize that this is a good thing for Lucy."

"A very good thing," she agreed. "If the blanket helps her feel better about her separation anxiety issues, then this should help even more. So much more."

"Well, then I suppose that's all you can hope for." He took her hand and led her back downstairs.

* * *

Lucy stood at the bottom of the stairs, wrapped up in her new blanket, waiting for Dinah and Severus to come down and tell her they were ready to leave. She stuck her face in the blanket and smelled it. She liked the smell and had finally figured out why.

"It smells like Snuffles," she said, looking up at Sirius.

"Well, I should hope so. I've been using it every chance I got just so it would."

"Mmmm. You're too good to me," she told him. She knew how caring he could be, but sometimes it still surprised her, the things he did for her.

"No," he murmured, "I'm not good enough."

"Now that's just silly," she stopped when she heard two sets of feet coming carefully down the stairs.

"Well, we're ready to go," Dinah said, then smiled slightly when Severus let go of her hand. Apparently he was still a little shy on the whole public displays of affection thing. Which made no sense considering the mistletoe episode earlier. "Thank you again so much for having us," Dinah said.

"You're welcome," said Sirius, surprising Lucy. "And Dinah…thanks," he finished, extending his hand to the other witch.

Dinah smiled and nodded, shaking his hand, while Severus scowled but remained silent and Lucy stared, wondering what he could possibly be thanking her about.

"Good luck," Dinah winked, and then turned to Lucy. "I'll see you after the holidays?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Though maybe not in this form," Lucy said, smiling. "I do like to play in the snow as my other self."

Dinah laughed, "I'll keep an eye out when I walk around the grounds or Hogsmeade."

Lucy joined in the laughter, and then surprised Dinah by hugging her; "I'm glad you came to Hogwarts. You've helped. And I don't just mean me."

Dinah smiled and hugged her back. "Thanks. I'm glad I've been able to help. And also... thanks for helping me realize that I_ have_ helped."

"You're welcome." Lucy grinned, "We seem to be saying that a lot today."

Dinah laughed, "Yeah, well I guess it's good everybody's getting along. Or as well as they can, which is something to be grateful for." She shot a grin at Severus, who still had a half-scowl on his face, and slid her hand into his. He seemed to flinch, but then his face relaxed back to its normal state. Dinah truly seemed to have powers over the man that she didn't even realize.

"That's true. We are all still alive," Lucy giggled. "Anyway, I hope you two have a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Year's."

"Thanks, you too," Dinah smiled.

"Yes, thank you," Severus added with a short nod.

"So, I guess this is goodbye then," Lucy said awkwardly.

"Well, thank you again," Dinah repeated, as they all began walking towards the front door, "Next time we see each other it'll be a new year. I think a lot of good things happened and will happen this holiday season. So next year we can be sure to have a fresh outlook."

"Let's hope so," Lucy said, reaching for the handle to open it for the departing couple. "I'll see you two when classes start up again." Sirius was being terribly quiet, but then he didn't work with either Dinah or Snape so there was nothing for him to say really, other than goodbye.

"Great, see you then. Thanks," Dinah flashed another smile, and then she and Severus left, still holding hands, as Lucy shut the door behind them.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Lucy asked, leaning against the door.

"Snivellus and I spent most of the time ignoring each other if that's what you mean."

"Yes, and you're both still alive, nothing too disastrous happened…"

"Except now I have to put the thought of that Death Eater kissing people in my house out of my mind."

"Oh, hush. He's not a Death Eater anymore and you know it. Besides, he wasn't kissing people he was kissing Dinah. Unless you and he locked lips and you didn't tell me?"

"God, no!" he barked.

"Then don't worry about it," she said, kissing him and pulling him farther into the house.

* * *

"That went... well! Don't you think?" Dinah asked after she and Severus had come down the steps leading from Grimmauld Place.

"As well as could be expected," he agreed, his face wearing its usual flat expression.

She nodded and turned to face him, not letting go of his hand. "Thank you, Severus. For trying to be social and getting along with Sirius for me."

He shrugged, "Getting along meaning ignoring him."

She grinned, "I think that was the best thing for both parties." They continued down the walkway until they reached the street. "Well, I suppose you should apparate home and me to my parents' house." She began to remove her hand from his, but his grip tightened over hers.

His expression not much changed, but his eyes thoughtful, he said, "I think we could continue like this to the end of the road, at least."

"Yes," Dinah smiled, placing her other hand over their clasped ones, "We could indeed."

THE END

* * *

A/N: So that was it! Fairly short and sweet but I hope you all enjoyed it! :)

Please keep reading "The Serpent's Kiss" and "Don't Leave Me" for the rest of the stories of Dinah/Severus and Lucy/Sirius!

Thank you for reading and reviewing! Happy Holidays, everyone! :)


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